Amber's "2009 will be my year!" journal (CW)

[Foxfiregrrl]

Well, it's that time of year again when I start a new journal. This will be my fourth year keeping a WISH journal and I hope to me more successful this year than I have been in the previous three!!

A brief intro for those of you who may not know me:

I'm 30, married, and work full time as a social worker. I've been overweight my whole teen and adult life, but actually recently have gained up to my highest weight. DH and I have been married for 6 years (7 in April) and finally started trying to have children last summer. I'm really excited about that and am ready emotionally! I have been wanting to lose some weight first but ended up going in the wrong direction.

One thing is that I have begun drinking more heavily than I ever had in the past. It is really dumb, but I kept thinking "better drink now cause once I'm pregnant I can't drink for at least 18 months". That began kind of a downward spiral in my thinking. Anyway, I'm ready to get back on track with that. I'm not going to say I won't drink at all, but I'm going to work on making it VERY minimal.

I also want to exercise more this year and eat better. My eating isn't terrible most days. It gets worse when I eat out mostly. Regular exercise is what I'm truely lacking.

SO, that brings me to my New Year New Mii Challenge!! Dh and I just bought a Wii with our Christmas money and I really want a Wii Fit!! So, I will challenge myself to do some of the things that I find hard and I will earn money for doing (or not doing) something. And I will lose money for certain things also. So far the challenge looks like this:

$10 for every 7 days in a row that I do not drink any alcohol. If I have any, my 7 days restarts on the next day.

$10 for every work week in which I don't eat out for lunch. If I eat out even once I don't get my money for the week. If I eat out twice in a week I lose $5. Also if, while eating out, I make a choice that is particularly fatty or fried, then I lose $2.

$1 per pound lost. If I gain it back before buying the Wii Fit then the money comes back out of the pot. Basically I will have a start weight and a finish weight and that will decide how much money comes from weight (I will weigh weekly though)

$.50 for every half hour of working out that I do.

$1.00 for each WISH Biggest Loser weekly challenge that I complete.

That is the plan for right now. It may end up being tweaked just a bit as I go along. I am hoping to have enough to buy my Wii Fit in 6 to 8 weeks. Then I will set a new goal.

I technically started the challenge yesterday. I am sick though and felt too bad yesterday to post. I stayed home from work today and slept for 13 hours total! I feel a good bit better having gotten the extra sleep. I have a bad sore throat and cough though. Yesterday if I walked from my living room to my bedroom and back I felt like I had run a mile!

I am going to start posting my exercise, food, and challenge info each day.

Yesterday:
L - onion rings, salad w/ ranch, croissant, chicken pot pie (Cheddar's), we went out w/ friends
D & snacks (i was sick so just munched a lot) - half a bagel, can of chick. noodle soup, pack of oatmeal, quarter of a bagel, cookie. I think that's it.

No alcohol! It helped that I didn't feel good
No exercise.

Today so far I've had oatmeal and coffee.

Well, I think that is it for right now. I'll check in regularly to update.

 

[lindalinda]

Hi Amber! It looks like you have a good plan worked out. I think you should make an actual container to put the money in too, just to make sure. A Wii Fit piggy bank or something.

Hope you feel better soon and have fun with the new Wii!

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Thanks, Linda. I'm starting to feel a little bit better. I'm still really tired and cough constantly, but my throat is less sore today.

We played a little bit of Wii Sports earlier today and I played a bit of Rayman Raving Rabbids yesterday. It makes me way tired, but I've just been playing in short bursts.

I forgot to post my weight yesterday for a starting point. 218 My official highest weight. I hope to keep that the highest and not see it again!!

Yesterdays food:
oatmeal, coffee
can chicken noodle soup, half bagel w/ cream cheese and turkey, cookie
porkchop, lima beans, asparagus
.25 of bagel w/ cream cheese
hot tea
Again I didn't really have specific meals, but kind of snacked throughout the day.

Today we ran to the Fresh Market to pick up a few things and replenish my chicken soup supply

So far I've eaten half of a chicken salad croissant sandwich (it was Delish) and half of a can of chicken noodle soup. I'm pretty hungry right now, but DH is cooking dinner so I'll be eating soon. We are having chicken, broccoli, and artichoke pasta. Dh is a great cook so I'm sure it will be Good! I'll probably have the rest of my soup later also.

No alcohol yesterday and I'm not having any today either.
No exercise either.

Guess that's it so far. I'm still taking it pretty easy since I'm not feeling too good. We were supposed to take down the Christmas decorations today, but I just didn't feel like it. We'll get it done sometime.

 

[lindalinda]

Hi Amber!

What is Rayman Raving rabbids? I haven't heard of that one, should I check it out?

I hope you feel better soon. Kudos on the no booze, too!

later!

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Hey, Linda. Rayman Raving Rabbids is a bunch of mini games that all vary. It is kind of goofy, but fun. It is hard to describe. One of the games you swing a cow around and throw it. In another, you close the doors of outhouses w/ bunnies in them. There is also a rhythm game sort of like guitar hero. We have enjoyed it so far.

I'm still a bit under the weather, but I think the cold is finally starting to get a little bit better. I went to the doctor today, but she said since it is viral there isn't much she can do for me. I did go to work today, but wasn't able to get a whole lot done.

Since I'm still sick I haven't gotten in any workouts. In fact, when I came home from work today I took a nap instead But, I'm determined that I will get going on the exercise as soon as I feel better! I figure not tomorrow, but hopefully Wednesday.

Food today:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
l - half a chicken salad croissant sandwich, half a can of chicken noodle soup
s - V8 fusion strawberry bannana smoothie thing
s - part of an apple, handful of mixed nuts
d - leftover chicken, broccoli, artichoke pasta
that's about 1328 calories so far. My stomach is growling though, so I've got to figure out a good snack.

Yesterday
l- leftover half of california style burrito, chicken noodle soup
s - coffee, fruit juice
d - homemade soup, quarter of a bagel
s - baked potato w/ a little butter and cheese
I'm not sure if I had something else.... I think so, but I can't really remember.

No Alcohol either day!

I weighed this morning and am down 2 pounds so far but that is from not feeling well. I just hope I keep that off and more once I'm feeling better.

Well, gonna relax a bit before bed.

 

[DisDee]

Hi Amber, sorry to hear that your not feeling all that well. Napping after work is probably just what you need right now, and you shouldn't feel guilty about that. You'll work out again when you're feeling a little better. Take it easy on yourself and get better soon!

 

[lindalinda]

Feel better Amber! It's 2009! I had to write that yesterday and I messed it up.

nite

linda

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Hi, guys! I'm actually felling a lot better today. I still have a little cough, but I'm mostly better. I didn't get up and exercise this morning, because I wanted to allow myself one more day to recover. I will be exercising tomorrow though.

We played an hour of Wii this evening though. I played a few new games on the Wii Play game. They are pretty tame, but I did stand while playing them. Then we did boxing and bowling on the Wii Sports. The boxing wears me out. We only did those two for about 20 minutes total though. It isn't really a workout, but I like that it gets me off the couch for a bit.

Food today:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
l - chicken sandwich (no lettuce or cheese today), chicken rotini veggie soup
s - apple
s - half a bottle of Green Goodness
d - chicken & veggie curry over couscous (DH says specifically it was Vindaloo )
So I'm at around 1200 calories for today so far.

I was very proud of myself this afternoon. My coworker, M, who supposedly wants to lose 50lbs for a wedding in October that she's in, is a Terrible diet saboteur! She can find an excuse to be bad anytime and is somewhat negative. Anyway, she's not really trying to lose any weight and I think has given up on the idea already, but I keep trying to encourage her.

So, this afternoon she starts talking about wanting Ice Cream! I said I'm going to eat the apple I brought for my snack. Well, anyway, she and our other friend, L, decided they would go to the convenience store that is across the street. I walked with them, but ate my apple and did not buy anything. I even was able to convince L to get a V8 Fusion and pretzels instead of a Twinkie or Ice Cream. M ended up getting a Drumstick Ice Cream. I was proud of myself for not even considering getting a bad for me snack!

Here is my food from yesterday:
B - kashi, milk, coffee
L - Chicken sandwich w/ cheese, apple
s - reese cup
d - Chicken salad, potato salad, spinich dip, crackers, celery, carrots (we went to Wild Wing Cafe and it was supposed to be my effort at being good) I only ate half the potato salad
I figured my day to be about 1600 calories, but it was probably at bit more since the food wasn't homemade.

Today is my 7th day in a row with no alcohol to drink

I haven't eaten out for lunch at work this week so far, but there are still two days left. Gonna try to hold out.

I can't wait to get started back exercising again!

 

[lindalinda]

Glad you're feeling better Amber!

Great job avoiding the trap that your coworker was setting for you. I know its really hard.

Even though you haven't been feeling wel, you've been keeping on track with some of your goals. You'll have that wii fit in no time.

linda

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Thanks, Linda!

As of today, I have $10.50 toward my Wii Fit goal That's $10 for going 7 days w/ no alcohol and $.50 for exercising this morning.

I got up with DH this morning to exercise and plan to again tomorrow. I stayed in a decent calorie range again today. I only have to get through one more day of work with out going out for lunch and I'll have another $10 toward the Wii Fit! That's pretty good motivation.

Today's food:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
l - chicken sandwich w/ cheese, soup
s - mango
d - homemade chicken and bean burrito, guacamole w/ chips, and refried beans
calories = 1540

I'm starting to get back into the swing of things at work since the holidays and being sick. At home, I can't quite seem to get it together though. We still haven't taken down the Christmas decorations I figure we'll get them down this weekend.

Have a great weekend!!

 

[lindalinda]

Wow amber if you keep it up you can get that wii fit in about a month! Yay!

So how did your weigh in go? I know you had a bad week, so don;t sweat it too much!

linda

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

I weighed in this morning before exercising and then again afterward. I was 216.4 before and 215.8 after So I went with the after weight of 215.8 That means I've lost 2.2 pounds this first week w/out really getting much exercise! What a great way to start the process!

I'm glad that I was able to lose this week even though I was sick. I tend to lose weight very slowly and get a bit discouraged. So, I'm happy to be able to get a jumpstart!

I didn't eat out at lunch today. I could have been talked into it Very easily. It has been a LONG week for me. I haven't slept well and I still have a pretty nasty cough lingering around (part of why I haven't slept well). Anyway, I was glad that none of my coworkers mentioned going out until After we were already all in the breakroom eating We all said that we would have liked to go out, but luckily none of us acted on it!

So food:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
l - chicken sandwich (no cheese), chick noodle soup, few bites of mango
s - mixed nuts w/ raisins, yogurt covered raisins, choc. covered peanuts, and small bits of chocolate (it's 2 fresh market mixes that I mixed together)
d - chicken and veggie curry over couscous
s - two cups of coffee (cause I'm SO tired)

I got up and exercised this morning for half an hour. We did Total Body Sculpt w/ Gilad. This one had a lot of sculpting in it. He was killing me w/ the leg lifts!

So I earned $10 this week for not eating out for lunch and then $.50 today for working out for half an hour. I'm at a total of $21.00 now!

I know it sounds like I'm earning my Wii Fit money pretty fast, but I know that I won't earn the Lunch Money part weekly. I figure if I can get it every other week I'll be be doing pretty good. Going out for lunch is as much about getting out of the office as anything else, so I'm not going to be able to give it up all together, it just needs to be under control.

Not sure what all will be going on this weekend. DH's friends are coming over tomorrow for gaming. I'm not sure what else will be going on though. My mom called this afternoon to tell me that our ex neighbor had her baby today. I figure mom and I will go see the baby tomorrow, but I'm not 100% sure that I should go because of the cold I've had. I don't think I would still be contagious, but I really don't know.

I do know that I'm going to try to get some good sleep over the weekend! I haven't had a good night's sleep since I started with this cold.

Have a losing weekend!!

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Well, it has been an interesting weekend around here. I haven't gotten any exercise in. I'm bad at exercising on the weekends anyway though.

We've been having some drama since Christmas with my sister-in-law (dh's brother's wife). She was not happy with the gift we gave her, which was Season 1 of House and has been insisting that we give her the receipt so she can return it. Well, it Really perturbs me because it was on her Amazon Wish List and was added around September, so I THOUGHT I was getting her something she wanted. She has been SUPER rude about it too. She actually pulled DH aside on that day and asked where we got the idea to get it for her. BTW, this is the BIL and SIL who don't work and mooch of my MIL.

Anyway, they came over to get the receipt yesterday. I had bought it on Black Friday for $14, so I warned them that they wouldn't get much for it. Well, they had called Target ahead of time but somehow got the idea that they would get the full $45 for it if they brought the receipt, even though that wasn't what was paid for it. Well, they went to return it and only got $14. SO, she comes back into our house (MIL stayed while they went) and tells DH that he can have the store credit back because she doesn't shop at Target. DH says You were just there why didn't you buy something then? So she replies They don't have anything I want! She had also commented to the family friend that drove them there that "no one bought me anything" WELL, we can't help it that we bought you something on your LIST that you later decided wasn't what you wanted and that I didn't spend a fortune on you!! Anyway, when she told DH that she didn't want anything from Target he pocketed the store credit and said, "well, I can't help you then" Oh, yeah, and she did all of this in front of all DH's friends, several of whom I'm sure found it Very amusing. I just have been REALLY irritated by her rudeness for almost a solid month now. I try to remind myself that she is just stupid and selfish, but it bothers me because I tried to get her something she wanted!

Anyway, on top of that, DH's best friend brought his two girls over during gaming. They were supposed to be there for one to two hours, but ended up being there for over 6. They weren't much trouble, but started to get antsy after a little while. I wasn't really in the mood for entertaining kids yesterday either.

So, about 8:30 when all of that was finally over I got to spend some time relaxing and decompressing. It was just a draining day.

I didn't do too badly with my calories yesterday, but I didn't eat as healthy as I could have either.
b - slept through it
l - chicken salad on half a croissant, pesto pasta salad, mango
s - coffee
s - peanut butter on ritz (4)
s - small bowl of kashi w/ milk
d - 3 cheese chicken penne from Applebees - I only ate half
s - half of a chocolate chip scone w/ a large glass of milk
total around 1700 calories

Today we ate w/ my family at my grandma's house. It was typical grandma cooking, which means too much fat and cheese, not enough good stuff. I did better than in the past though because I put a good sized salad on my plate first, then the rest of the foods.

I ended up spending a good portion of the afternoon at my parent's house w/ them and my middle sister. She is possibly breaking up w/ her live in boyfriend and was upset. We sat around talking about it for awhile and time got away from me. It was nice to just spend some time with them though.

Dh and I played some Wii this afternoon also. I've been trying to take it somewhat easy because I still have a lot of lingering cold symptoms. I am SO done being sick!!

So food today:
b - slept through it (it is just So nice to be able to sleep through the night)
l - ham, potato, and cheese casserole, green beans, pasta salad, reg. salad, biscuit, and the dreaded sweet tea
s - coffee
s - 2 teaspoons of peanut butter (got too hungry before dinner)
d - red beans and rice YUM!
total so far 1332

I'm feeling that I'll be hungry soon, so I'm probably going to eat the other half of my scone later.

I'm way behind on my exercise challenge for this month, but I'm hoping to get my morning workouts in this week, plus possibly hit the gym a couple of evenings.

Gonna chill now so I get get to bed a bit earlier tonight. Have a Fabulous week!!

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Food today:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
s - half a 100 calorie pack of cookies (was Starving)
l - turkey burger and salad w/ ranch, bite of hummus w/ pita chip
d - chicken and veggie soup

One of my coworkers forgot to bring her lunch, so we ate out. I will be good the rest of the week though!!

I'm REALLY tired tonight so I'm going to bed early. Nite!

 

[lindalinda]

Just catching up Amber!
wow your SIL seems like a total jerk. I wouldn't let her stress you out. I can't believe a grown woman is acting like that! Whining about christmas gifts! I would never get her anything again.

Sounds like you are doing pretty good. Except the sweet tea. You gotta stop the sweet tea girl. You might as well eat a brownie as sweet tea!

Keep going. 3 days til weigh in ( I forgot to say congrats on the loss last week!)

nite

linda

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Hey, Linda. Yeah, I'm definitely not going out of my way for her anymore. I think next year DH will have to be the one buying her gift Not that he's a bad shopper though.

I don't drink sweet tea very often at all anymore. I will have it occasionally when I eat out or at my grandma's. Mostly I just drink water. I am part of the BL7 challenge and the weekly challenge is to drink 8 8oz glasses of water a day. On most days I have that and more done by the time I leave work.

I got up this morning and exercised. We did a 30 minute Total body sculpt. It was a tough workout!

I didn't do the best on my food today. We ate out tonight and went to Carrabba's. We almost never go there and my Favorite dish is the Chicken Bryan. Dh and I shared that and one of their pizza's. We brought half the pizza home with us though. I ate a little too much bread I'm sure. I was Hungry and it was Good.

Food:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
l - chicken salad on half a croissant, pesto pasta
s - chocolate tootsie pop
d - 2.5 pieces of bread in oil, Half a Chicken Bryan w/ pasta, Quarter of an Italian Chicken Pizza
I came up with about 1600 calories for today, but I'm not sure if that is right Fitday often seems to give low calorie counts for things.

My coworkers and I worked out a workout plan. We will go to the gym on Monday and Tuesday nights together and do Hi/Lo Cardio and Step respectively. I will also continue to get up and do my workouts w/ DH in the mornings. They have a yoga class at the gym on Thursday nights, so I'm going to try to make it to some of them also. My coworkers are planning to complete their workout plan w/ a couple of mornings a week. I don't mind working out in the morning, but I don't like going all the way to the gym to do it

Well, gonna call it a night. Gotta workout early in the morning.

 

[lindalinda]

Wow my post just disappeared. Anyway, I think your work out plan sounds great. I wish I had friends to work out with. It will give you motivation!

Keep it up! Hows the wii fit piggy bank coming along?

nite

linda

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Hey! I didn't mean to let 2 days slip by w/out a post. I am having a hard time keeping up w/ all my online stuff. I'm on the Biggest Loser challenge and that thread moves SO fast! Then I had joined Facebook and spent a long time playing with it last night. I didn't realize how much time I spent until all the sudden it was bedtime.

So, what I have been up to for the last two days.... not too much.

Wednesday I got up with DH and exercised before work. After lunch I really started to wear out though. I was SO exhausted. I have some flex time so I decided to sleep late on Thursday so that I wouldn't be so tired.

At work on Wednesday my coworkers were planning to go out to lunch. I told them that I was not going to go. They all know about my Wii Fit challenge. They were really pressing me to go anyway. I said No I'll have to give money back if I go and I'm not going to do that. Anyway, I didn't go, but it was somewhat hard to say no. It kills me that two of them are significantly heavier than I am and they talk about losing weight, but then they do Nothing about it. Then when I try to do better they are all about sabotaging me!

Anyway, food Wednesday:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
l - chicken salad on croissant, lentil soup
s - mango
d - lemon butter chicken, mashed potatos, salad w/ light ranch
s - peanut butter w/ mini choc. chips, milk

Yesterday, I slept late which was SO nice! Then when I got to work I was particularly unmotivated. I had to work a little late doing visits and got a little over hungry, so I stopped at Wendy's and got a 5 piece chicken nuggets. I love them, but I know they are Bad! Then Dh came home and was in a mood, plus he starts being on call tonight. So, we went out for dinner last night. We had mexican and I ate too many chips. I didn't do too bad ordering though. I had a beef and bean burrito and a guacamole salad.

food:
b - kashi, milk, coffee
l - leftover pizza, lentil soup
s - part of an apple
s - 5 chicken nuggets
d - chips & salsa, beef and bean burrito, guacamole salad
s - piece of bread (from carrabbas')

I was over my calories for the day, but not too badly. I figure it isn't terrible to have an off day here and there.

I weighed in this morning and was down 1.6 pounds. I'll take it.

I am off work today because it is my furlough day. I have been pretty darn lazy today too! I watched Biggest Loser earlier and actually got up and exercised for 25 minutes while watching. I mostly walked in place, but added kicks, knee lifts, and some squats too. I tried to do some arm exercises too. My arms wear out fast though.

My house desperately needs some cleaning!! However, I just have not been able to motivate myself to clean it lately Maybe I'll get it cleaned before I go back to work Tuesday. I'm off Monday also for MLK day!

I'll check in over the weekend, I promise!

 

[Foxfiregrrl]

Oh, on the Wii Fit piggy bank..

Add $10 for no drinking
Add $1.50 for workouts this week
Also, I forgot to add my weight loss last week, so that was 2.2 plus this week's 1.6 which gives me $3

So my total currently is $35.50

I'm glad I didn't cave in and go out for lunch a second time, because I would have had to take away $5. NOT doing that!!

 

[lindalinda]

Congrats on the weight loss Amber!

Woohoo! Sounds like you are doing well. Good job passing up going out to lunch again. Don't be so hard on your co-workers though, this is YOUR challenge, and it's up to you. They might just not be "there" yet. It's takes a real commitment.

Almost halfway to wii fit! Keep up the good work!


linda