"We are still masters of our fate,
We are still captains of our souls."
-Winston Churchill

Wow, it's like I'm becoming a real, live blogger again with three posts in a row.

Well it's a gorgeous 51* here today, unfortunately it's pouring, and we're suppose to get an inch of rain today. Yes, gorgeous, but in Michigan, especially in February, we'll take what we can get, at least it's warm, and it's not snow! Things could always be worse!

So today I'm going for Day #4 of being back on track. I tried to throw myself off my having a piece of cake (sure fire way for me to go into a downward spiral which includes eating everything in site!), but I realize I have flex points for a reason, and two, I can eat moderately the rest of the day and still stay on plan.

Similar thing happened last night, I was making the cake, and I started licking batter, yes, I'm one of those people who love raw cookie dough, or batter, I don't understand it, I like it more than the finished product. But I counted the points and moved on, and yes, managed to stay on plan.

So I'm shooting for Day 4, and so far so good! I have faith I can make it!

That being said, weigh in on Friday morning, and I'm not looking forward to it, since I think I'll be up anyways with TOM around the corner, but I'll read it and weep, and know what I have to lose! Time to face it.

This Saturday is Valentines Day, and Boyfriend is cooking me dinner. Now he's a good cook, don't get me wrong, but it scares me, he loves to cook, but cooks not healthy stuff, so I'm gonna ask him to come up with something healthy, and hopefully it won't be too bad!

I might try to get a run in this evening, it's on the schedule, but with the rain I don't know if it will let up enough to go or not. I usually love running in the rain, but with getting over being sick, might not be a good idea. So if it's raining, I'll pass!

Other than that, just plugging along over here, getting my 8GHG's in, and trying to avoid the temptations of yummy baked good!

anyways, that's it for me today, have a healthy happy day bloggers!

"I can't do it" never yet accomplished anything: "I will try" has
accomplished wonders."
-- George P. Burnham

Wow, mark it on the calendar, two days in a row, I’m gonna write a post, like a real post.

So I’ve been back on plan since Sunday, Sunday went off fine, without a hitch. I got all of my 8GHG’s, Ran 4 miles, It was a great day.

Yesterday actually went off without a hitch too, although I did have an incident with some ice cream. Let me tell you how it went down. I get home from work, Run my 2 miles (which was great mind you!), and then head up to the grocery store to grab a few things I need to whip up two cakes for one of my brothers birthday on Wednesday. So I run up there, and I cruise through the ice cream section. Mind you, as of recently, I haven’t even been keeping ice cream in the house. I haven’t really been craving it (who can when it’s 30 below outside), and if its there, usually it just calls my name, so I just haven’t been buying it! One of the joys of living by yourself!

So I pick up a Breyers Fat Free Vanilla ice cream and head to checkout and go home with my new little treat. Now mind you, be the time I get home I’m starving, haven’t eaten since a snack at 3, and I’ve ran 3 miles, you get the point, I’m hungry. So, how these things always start, I go, Oh, I will just open the carton and try a spoonful (it’s what I’m craving afterall!), yah, well that spoonful, it turned out of be a lot of spoonfuls. Needless to say, I did stop myself, but not before I used up quite a few points.

So I sat down and figured out how much I ate, and counted the points, and needless to say, I still had a few left. Unfortunately that meant skipping the dinner I was making (and smelled oh so good!), but I was still able to get my last dairy in, my last oil in and had a toasted English muffin with some preserves and that was enough to satisfy me and keep me full….plus I stayed within my points.

So I was so happy, because after the ice cream incident I could have easily given up for the day, continued to eat (the yummy dinner would have been easy to overeat!). But instead I sat down and figured out what I ate, and tracked it. NSV for sure!

So it feels good being back in control. And I seriously love the way I feel when I’m eating good stuff, and not overeating, I just wish I could remember how bad I feel overeating and eating crap so it would stop me from putting it in my mouth to begin with! But one day at a time right?

Weigh in will be on Friday, like it or not! And yes, I’m back to weekly weigh ins until I banish these few pounds, I’m expecting I have about 8 or 9 lbs to lose to get to 138, but we’ll see. I might be up because of TOM, but not sure there either, since it’s been so long since I’ve done weekly weigh ins!

Anyways, today it totally gorgeous around this neck of the woods, suppose to be almost 60, and sunny too! Unfortunately, I have a run scheduled for today, but I’m exhausted, and feeling cranky, which for me is a good sign of being wore out, soooooo, in effort to prevent my never ending sickness from coming back; I’m begrudgingly taking the evening off….Bah Humbug!

Anyways, should probably get back to work. Have a healthy and happy day bloggers!

I change my mind more than....

I couldn't think of a good analogy, but these days, seems like I've been changing my mind alot when it comes down to what works, and what doesn't when I look at maintaining/losing weight.

So here I am, changing my mind again. Last week I just decided to write down what I was eating, because it worked so well in the summer time. And really it did work great then, I actually lost weight when I wasn't trying too. But I also think it worked so well because one, I was running about 15 miles a week, and two, I was just trying to maintain what I had lost. Running and loosely keeping track of what I'm eating works wonders for maintaining, not so much for trying to lose.

So I keep going back and fourth on how to get these few pounds off. And you know what? It's just me being lazy, or trying to find something easier. I know what works, I lost 25lbs using something that works, so I just need to stop being lazy and get back on board with WW's, because that is what worked for me.

Sooooo, last night I joined WW's online again. I set my weigh in days to Friday, I really like Sunday weigh ins, but I'm never sure whether I will be at my house or the boyfriends Sunday morning, and I'm picky about which scale I use, so therefore Fridays avoids that confusion.

I also made a decision to lose a few extra pounds over the few that I have gained. The end of this summer, I had actually lost more weight (without trying), and hit right about 140, with some days being in the upper 130's. I was terribly happy with this weight, I felt great and felt so lean, so I'm going to set a goal weight of 138 now. I think this is a good weight, and if I get to 140 and feel like that is fine, I'll stop there.

So my first (and very scary I'm sure!) weigh in will be on Friday Morning, and then I'll see exactly how much weight I have to lose, and I'll put back up a weight loss ticker, and goals on the side bar!

So there is my Monday morning revelation!

How was the weekend? Eating wise, it could have been better, could have been worse. Yesterday was completely and totally on plan though, AND I got a 4 mile run in! Plus, it was like 40* outside, which feels like summer in this neck of the woods this time of year. Tomorrow is gonna be in the 50's....I might have to dig out shorts ha ha.

Tonight, I'm planning a 2 mile easy run, as I'm trying to get back into things after being sick. So it will be an easy week :)

I've also started the pushup and situp challenges!

Ok, so there you have it. I'm back on the wagon, back to doing what I know works so I can get back down to "fighting weight".

Watch out bloggers, here I come!

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today."
- Abraham Lincoln

Alright, so I'm back. For a real update.

I got my CT results this morning, apparently, I'm only showing about a 40% blockage in my sinuses, which to operate they need about 60%, so whats this mean? I'm screwed. I just get to be miserable until I am in fact blocked more than 60%. It could be worse I suppose, but it's not what I wanted to hear.

That being said, I think I have a cold (not a sinus infection luckily like I have been fighting for 2 months!), and I actually don't feel terrible, but I'm going to give myself until Sunday off of running, and then start back. It's actually suppose to warm up around here, and my run Sunday might be in the 40's, I might have to wear shorts it will be so warm around here ha ha.

In all seriousness though, I'm looking forward to it warming up, at least a little bit, it probably doesn't help my sickness prone self that I am out running in sub or near zero temperatures. So I'm looking forward to a mild mid to upper 30's, and hopefully I can stay healthy.

I've been really battling the blahs. Seems like a lot of people in blog-land are kind of experiencing the same thing. I'm fighting being sick, getting back on plan, carrying a few extra pounds (and not being happy about it), and just ready for some nicer weather. They are switching my job title at work, so I'll be heading into a new job, and the uncertainty with that boggles me a little bit. Just a lot going on.

But I feel like I'm getting a better grip on my eating (finally!), and getting things a little more under control there, and I know with eating being back under control, when my running and fitness returns to normal, the few extra pounds I'm carrying should come off fairly easily. But in the meantime, I'm honestly just bummed I can't run.

When did I turn into a person who was bummed when they couldn't go run? A year and a half ago my motto was "exercise? what exercise?". Just baffles me sometimes in the ways that I have changed in the last two or so years.

So a little wrap up:

- Eating has been good, the bad days I'm having are in the minority, a month ago, it was the opposite for sure.
-Running, Pushups and crunches will resume on Sunday. A light running week will be scheduled.
-CT Scan- good results or bad, depending on what way you look at it, no surgery at least!
- Weight? Notice I didn't weigh this month, we will return to regularly scheduled programming next month, I wasn't feeling good, and I was taking steroids (hello water weight!), so I opted not to weigh for my own frame of mind!

Ok, until next time, have a healthy and happy day bloggers!

Hey Everyone, just wanted to drop in for a quick update post.

I had my CT on Saturday morning, I haven't gotten the results yet. I was beginning to feel better, in fact actually felt very decent yesterday...

Well then I went for a nice short run yesterday, now this morning I feel like it's coming back...seriously can I catch a break?

So, no run tonight now, I'm beginning to get a little pist. All I can do is be a lazy ass and lay around the house to get better...grrr.

Eating? Well it's been ok. It's not been stellar, but it's been way way better than it has been. Although I decided to go back to writing down what I was eating but not using Weight Watchers. This summer when I decided just to keep a journal of what I was eating without counting points or calories, I actually lost weight, and was below my goal weight. So I'm trying the food journal approach, although I'm tracking calories right now too. So we'll see how this works, so far, so good.

Thanks for all the concern, I'm still alive, and when I get the CT results, I'll definately let everyone know what is up. I'm just hoping I don't have to have sinus surgery...again!

Im still here...

I just wanted to stop in and say, I haven't fallen off the wagon (or at least totally!), and I'm still alive. Seems as though the antibiotics they are putting me on aren't quite doing their job. As soon as I get off them, bam, the infection is back. So I'm sick again, and I'm down and out. I have a CT scan on my sinuses on Saturday so maybe they can figure out what is going on. But in the meantime I'm here, a little down, and eating a little less than stellar (but tracking it all!).

Hope everyone else is doing great!

Had a less than stellar day today. BAH! But I wanted to post this article for you guys to read. Being from the motor city myself, it hits home, maybe it will with my midwestern friends also.

The Courage of Detroit

Enjoy! Happy Weekend!