End cycle 1, begin cycle 2

Today marks the day that I can begin cycle 2 of the 17 day diet.  Truthfully I'm kind of excited because I'm starting to get bored of eating pretty much the same foods every day.  In all honesty, I have cheated a few times.  I've had a few bites of pretzels and over the weekend I had a few other cheats. 

Cycle 1 ended with me weighing in the morning at 156.0.  That makes an 11.4 lb loss since I started the 17 day diet, well 17 days ago.  Today also marks 30 lbs loss since I started this journey October 2010.  3 more pounds to go until I reach my next goal - being out of the obese BMI range.  Maybe before Easter?  Hopefully!

The Color Run

I first heard about the Color Run probably about 2 months ago.  The first time I checked the website I was bummed because I didn't see any location closer than about 2 hours from my house.  I've checked a few random times since then but never saw a nearby city listed.  This morning when I was checking my Facebook page, I saw in the suggested pages The Color Run - Philadelphia.  Hmm ... could it be?  Is there going to be one in Philadelphia, which is just a hop, skip and a jump over the river?  Yes!  July 8th.  I signed up this morning and am super excited. 

Try it Tuesday

on Wednesday. 

Yesterday was a busy day running the oldest from school to soccer to tball game so I never got around to posting this weeks Try it Tuesday.  I made this Sweet Pineapple Strawberry Spa water on Saturday when I had some friends over for our Dinner club meeting.   It was a hit.  I did add in an orange that I had along with half of a lemon. 

Well hello there allergies

Ugh.  I feel absolutely horrible today.  All I want to do is eat comfort food rather than that healthy stuff and curl up and sleep.  As a result I cheated and had a few bites of macaroni and cheese that the boys had for dinner.  Shh.  Don't tell anyone.

Funny Friday

The difference in clothing

Today I was able to go for a nice run outside in the morning.  I was finally able to try out a long sleeve dri fit shirt that I found at Target.  As I was running, I was feeling confident.  And really I feel like it was because of the clothes I was wearing.  I felt like I looked like a runner, wearing running clothes.  I wasn't just wearing whatever old tshirt that was clean.  I really need to do some serious shopping and get myself some more actual running clothes so I can always feel like I felt today.

One week down

Today marks the 1 week from the start of doing the 17 Day diet.  And the week begins with a happy weigh-in - 159.2.  So 8.2 lbs gone.  Like I said last week, part of the reason for that high weigh-in was bloat, but I FEEL so much thinner this week!  A typical day during this cycle for me is:

breakfast - 2 eggs with veggies
snack - yogurt
lunch - tuna with tiny bit of mayo (or chicken leftovers) & salad
snack - apple
dinner - chicken & some kind of veggie combo or something made with ground turkey

I added sauerkraut to a few meals.  I also count out a serving of red grapes at the beginning of the day that I grab whenever I feel the need to munch.  If I'm still hungry at a part of the day I dip some carrots/broccoli/cauliflower in low fat ranch dressing.  Oh and iced coffee.  Coffee-Mate Sugar Free Vanilla Caramel creamer has helped get me through the sweet tooth cravings.  Yesterday I did have a few Pop Chips.  I consider having a few compared to devouring a bag quite a success. :)

I took a 'During' picture the other day for a comparison.  I like doing comparisons because at times I don't feel like my work is paying off (especially when the scale becomes stagnant).  So looking at pictures I'm able to point out where progress is being made.  Here's the comparison I did in October:

and this was Saturday night (I'm starting to get a butt!):

Friday I treated myself to an afternoon of getting my hair cut and highlighted.  Oh it felt so great!  Before kids, I would do this on a regular basis.  Sadly, this was my first time getting it highlighted in over 3 years.  What a great feeling.

Funny Friday

A good day

Today was a good day for me.  My body is getting used to not having the soda.  I went to the gym this morning and ran for part of the workout.  I didn't feel sluggish.  My legs didn't feel like cement blocks.  I was actually able to resist the baked french fries that I made for the rest of the family for dinner.  Oh how I love baked french fries so it did take some will power to not pop one in the mouth to make sure they were cooked or nicely seasoned.  I have my eye on the goal right now.

Oh the headaches

Yesterday was a truly awful day, well really night.  The caffeine withdraw headaches came on full force.  I've been drinking more soda than I really should the past few weeks.  With the 17 day diet, you're really not supposed to be drinking any soda, diet or regular.  When I felt the headaches coming on, I poured myself a tiny tiny bit hoping that it would work, but to no avail.  So yesterday my body was going into shock.  Thankfully I found some advil and that helped.  Let's hope today goes better. 

The 17 Day Diet - Day 1

I survived day 1! There was a question about what the 17 Day Diet is.  This website has a quick synopsis of the diet.

Today was a grocery shopping day for me.  I got all stocked up on the foods that I will need for the week.  The boys and I went during the daytime and got home at lunch time.  I realized how much I randomly grab non healthy foods when I'm not prepared.  I was so hungry and just wanting to reach into the bag of animal crackers and devour them.  But I held myself together until I was able to make myself tuna and celery for lunch.  So yes, I made it through the day without eating the leftovers from the boys plates.  But most importantly, a little bit ago as I was organizing I came across a HUGE piece of chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing from my sister-in-law's birthday over the weekend.  Oh that looked so delicious and it took some restraint to not take a nibble while the husband at a slice of it.

So the starting weight for this diet is 167.4.  Talk about extreme bloat from poor eating over the weekend and a woman's monthly.  At the end of last week I was in the 162's.    So we'll see how this goes!

The 17 Day Diet

I just got done reading The 17 Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno.  I heard some good things about it and decided to give it a shot.  So on Monday I will begin with day 1.  In the meantime, my neighbor was diagnosed with diabetes and brought over 3 new containers of ice cream that she wanted to get rid of.  One was chocolate marshmallow - one of my favorite flavors of ice cream.  I've been staying within my calories by eating tons of vegetables followed with big bowls of ice cream after the boys went to bed this week (hang my head in shame).   Not good.  I'm really not much of a "diet" type person, but I think the 17 Day Diet is what I really need right now.

Out of the comfort zone

I haven't watched it all yet, but last nights excuse on the Biggest Loser was about getting out of your comfort zone.  This is one part of my life I'm really trying to work on this year, one of my New Years resolutions.  I took a step a few weeks ago by attending a zumba class at a local gym.  I'm more of a person who likes to just go run or work on some machines at the gym compared to joining in classes where I have to follow an instructor.  So what a joy to my eyes this morning when I was checking my email and saw a new groupon.  Visits to a nearby gym that offers various classes, including kickboxing, zumba and spinning  I bought the 10 visit package and I'm rather excited to change up my workouts a bit.

On a side note I almost made a fool of myself at the gym this morning.  Part of the show that I did see last night had one contestant running at 10.0 for 30 seconds.  Silly me thought it would be a good idea to give it a try.  If she was able to do it, surely I would.  LOL  I almost fell flat on my face.  Thankfully I was able to lower it down pretty quick without wiping out.

Cute headband giveaway alert!  Runner ... Maybe has a giveaway for GlitzBandz.  These are adorable and I think I will be buying myself some.

Determination, Satisfaction

A new chapter

March 1st began a new adventure in the life of our family.  The husband began a new job that has it's pros and cons for my workouts.  The pros are that he will be working from home at times = less early wake ups to make it to the gym.  Today I found out that my gym apparently turns into a geriatric convention at 8:30am.  The cons - there will be some times where he will be way for a few days = no gym time.  I'm going to be buying zumba for kinect to help fulfill the boredom I get with at home workouts. 

I began keeping my food journal/calorie counting with MyFitnessPal again today.  February wasn't the best month for me so I'm determined to make March amazing.  Today I got a great run in.  Yesterday to church I wore pants (without spanx to hold it all in) that I used to wear to work prior to kids.  Those are my NSV's.

Funny Friday

Get in Shape girl

My pinterest health and fitness board is called Get in Shape Girl.  Anyone remember the Get in Shape Girl ribbon from the 80's?  Oh how I loved that ribbon stick.  Seriously one of my favorite Christmas presents from my younger days, right up there with my Caboodle.