HYC Check In

Good morning all! Nothing all that new to report for me this week. It rained pretty much all last week and I've been working soooo hard over the weekend that I'd pretty much come home and fall into bed. I haven't lost hardly any weight but I haven't gained any either.....so I guess it's been an alright week. Been pretty stressful at work the last couple of days.....We've been having trouble getting all the product off the floor and stocked before everybody's shift ends.....we spent the last hour today scrambling to get everything off the floor and make the store guest ready.

I discovered a new author that I like last week on my days off. Her name is Karen Rose. She writes "romantic suspense"....so far in the book that I've been reading we're long on suspense with a tad bit of romance to keep things interesting. If your looking for something to read this summer on those really hot and humid days I recommend her books.

HYC Check In

Last week I was down to 159 but when I stepped on the scale again after work this morning I was back up to 161. Not going to beat myself up over it....I may not see progress on the scale but I see it in other places on my body. Food wise it wasn't a great week....a lot of "junk" food. Later today my plan is to post some pictures of some "real" cowboys that I took in Omaha Nebraska this past april.

HYC Check In

So it's my first official check in for the Healthy You Challenge. Nothing much to report this week. I've been doing a lot of walking outside with the dogs when the weather's nice....Today it's kinda rainy so no walk today. I've been wearing my pedometer for the past 4 days at work and I've found that I walk anywhere from 10 to almost 20 miles in my 10 hour shift....It just depends upon how busy we are and what's going on. I'm down a whole pound from 162 to 161. I'm pretty happy about that. I've been downloading new music for my work out's so there will be an updated "workout playlist" post shortly. Well, I'd better get going. Have a great day!

Jamie

30 Day Challenge Photo's

The two photo's above are what I looked like when I started and the ones below were taken on May 30.




Today's Affirmations:

1. I am a confident woman!
2. I love my body even with all the flaws!
3. I am motivated to get myself into shape!

It's the 1st!

So yesterday was the last day of Shari's 30 day challenge. I am pretty happy with my results so far. I started the challenge with the following measurements:

Waist - 37"

Hips - 39"

Thighs - 24"

Arms - 14"

Bust - 33"

Now at the end of the month I am the following measurements:

Waist - 35"

Hips - 38 1/2"

Thighs - 24"

Arms - 13"

Bust 32"

There isn't a great big huge change in the numbers but there is change none the less. Now for the "secret" to my success. For the past month I've really been trying to focus on my abs and my lower body primarily, so I've been doing a lot of walking both at work (which I spend about 9 hours a night doing 4 days a week) and at home around the house.....Primarily walking my dogs. I've also been doing some ab exercises too....crunches, twisting crunches, reverse ab crunches, etc. I've also been doing a lot of work around our house and yard so I'm burning calories, etc. that way too. I've cut out almost all carbonated beverages....I'll occasionally have one but I've pretty much kicked my caffeine problem. I've also been watching what I eat a lot too. I even invested in the Hungry Girl book! I can hardly wait to try some of the recipes in it! I feel sooo much better in my own clothes it's not even funny! I even had to go out and buy some new clothes because my other clothes were just too baggy and I was having troubles keeping my jeans from falling down even with a belt on! So I just wanted to say Thank You to Shari for issueing the challenge in the first place, it really got my butt motivated!

Another Challenge

I also joined Grumpy Chair's "Why Drive When You Can Walk Or Ride Your Bike" Challenge. I do enough walking already why not add some more!

In addition...

In addition to Shari's 30 Day Challenge I have joined Scalejunkies Healthy You Challenge and Thinking Thin "Blogger's Biggest Loser" Challenge. I can hardly wait to check out how these challenges really work and check out some of the other participants too. From what I have read about these challenges so far they are a giant support group and sometimes I need all the support I can get to keep myself on the straight and narrow on my quest to lose all my "extra" pounds.

So here are my affirmations for today:

1. I am going to get my butt in shape.
2. I AM THAT SKINNY BITCH!
3. I am going to come up with a whole new list of mini rewards for myself!
4. Losing weight can be FUN!

Jamie

I should really get a pair of 7/8's!

There's toooooo much space between where my body ends and my jeans begin in my 9/10's! Thanks Shari for issuing this challenge!

On to my girliness quest....Not much to report really other than I feel "girly" in my new skinny clothes. I've even taken to wearing makeup to work again since I've found a foundation that will hold up to all the sweating that I do/will be doing at my job. I've found that I really like Almay's new TLC (Truly Lasting Color). It'll last my whole shift, it breaths, it's got a bunch of "good for your skin" ingredients, plus it has sunscreen in it too.

Now on to an overall feel good topic....While I was out shopping for my new "skinny" clothes the other day, my favorite store had these really neat necklaces up by the registers. Three little circles entertwined on a leather necklace. It turns out that these necklaces were specially made by a Minnesota artist for Maurices to sell and help in the fight against cancer. It makes me feel good to know that $2.50 from my $5.00 purchase is going to help find a cure for cancer. Just remember cancer can happen to anybody at anytime.

Today's Affirmations and just some random stuff

1. I feel more confident knowing I'm 4 pant sizes smaller.
2. I don't huff and puff near as much when I climb hills while I'm walking my dogs.
3. My bloggie friends are a great support system!

I checked out my blogging buddy Shari's blog this morning and I found this post (please click on the word post to go to the link). I'm just really happy that I have a pretty great support system out there in blogging land to keep me on the straight and narrow....So Thank You all! i'm not really all that comfortable in my transforming body yet and it feels good to now that there are others out there just like me.

Well the other day while I was out doing some clothes shopping (I finally have more than one pair of jeans that fit correctly!) I totally splurged and bought myself another pair of Maurices Sliver brand of jeans. The first pair I bought was $64 and this last pair that I bought were $69 and trust me they are worth every penny! I wore my new pair of Silver's to work last night and I felt much more confident in them nowing they fit in all the right places. I also bought a couple of shirts to add to my collection and can hardly wait for my next set of days off so I can wear them for more than a couple of hours.

On to 30 Day challenge stuff....I'm totally STOKED about the area's that I have already started slimming down in! You really have no idea at all! It's really a serious confidence booster to know that I can "squeeze" myself into a pair of 7/8 jeans and not totally cut off circulation to other parts of my body! This is seriously the smallest I've been inches wise in a VERY LONG time. I'm having hardly any trouble at all getting the inches to come off but I'm having a terrible time getting the weight to come off.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Jamie

Challenge Update

May 8th - 1/2" of Fat GONE!

I measured myself again today just for grins and giggles. I'm down 1/2" in both my waist and my hips. I'm down a whole inch in my bust area and both of my arms! So here are some updated challenge pictures. Sorry about the crappiness of the mirror.

Jamie

30 Day Challenge part Duex

So today I took my walking partner Laci out for a 20 minute walk and came back and raked up the back yard (where we have the dogs tied out) "gunk" into our garden for 20 minutes. I brought up the challenge on my other blog Bumps In The Road: A Country Girl Trapped In "Yuppie Hell" and one of my reader's suggested investing in a pedometer. I'm investing in one before my shift tonight at work. We have a big double tonight so there will be plenty of steps to be taken!

I worked out yesterday and today I'm paying for it. I think I'll work out again when I get home from work tomorrow morning again. I can hardly wait to see what I look like in 30 days!

I'm thinking of coloring my hair again. I'm not exactly sure what color I may want to go yet but my natural color has grown out so much from the last time that I colored that my hair looks a little bit weird. My "quest" to grow out my hair is well on it's way. It's got some movement to it now which is really exciting me!

Jamie

30 Day Challenge

I've gotten a little bit behind on my part with the 30 day clothing challenge exercise wise. Walking wise I'm right up there....I work at a place where we are kept on our toes and moving pretty much all night and with the exception of our 3 breaks that total out to 30 minutes I am on my feet and moving at a pretty moderate pace for 9 of the 10 hours that I am there. I fell off of the "no caffeine" wagon last night and had a pepsi and a snickers bar. I took both of my dogs out for a 25 minute walk this morning and we're all feeling pretty good right now.

Today's Affirmations:

1. I will get back into my 9/10 size jeans
2. I won't take what the scale says to heart
3. I will drink more water
4. I will start working out more
5. I will start walking more

The 30 day challenge

As I have posted prior I am participating in Shari's 30 day clothing challenge. The article of clothing that I am using for the challenge is my favorite pair of 9/10 jeans from my favorite store of all time, Maurices (they sell there jeans in a weird size run kinda way cause according to the lady at the store that I shop at the jeans are made to stretch/give hence the way their brand of jeans are sized). Currently, I can get into them but they do not sit or fit right on my body yet. The area's that I am going to be working on primarily during the challenge are my "belly buldge," my hips and my thighs. So please wish me luck in the challenge. I can hardly wait to see what I look like at the end!

Jamie

Redeeming myself

So I've already confessed to being a "bad" blogger. But on the upside I haven't had a drop of caffeine in anyway, shape, or form for over two weeks! My size 14 jeans are way TOO BIG! They were a little snug when I started my weight loss journey and now I SWIM in them! My 13/14 are too big also. So right now I think I'm in a 11/12, so I guess I'm going to have to go out and get me a pair of jeans that ACTUALLY fit! I have yet again fallen off of the wagon. But like last time I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'm just going to dust myself off and carry on!

Shari has posted a clothing challenge on her blog "Becoming Fit At 50". I've decided that I am going to try it and see if I can get my 9/10 jeans to fit a little more "comfortably." I can get into them but it's a little bit snug in certain area's....Area's that I already know I needed to work on. The challenge itself is 30 days. It starts on May 1. Please check out Shari's blog if you are interested in particpating.