It's been a while...

It's been a little over a year since my past post, and what a year it has been.  I think this has been the most difficult year of my life in many ways.  The school year started with many changes that stressed me out and continued throughout the year.  

Then, Sandy hit.  Most of you, I'm sure, know that our house was flooded.  I left with the dogs, and came home to this:

This is about 9 hours after the storm had passed.  I couldn't drive to our house, because the roads were only passable by boat (not joking!).  I had to park a few blocks away, and trudged through the water to get to my home.  It was surreal.  I wish I had thought to take video of me making my way home.  It felt like a war zone.  You would drive down a block and eventually hit a tree, power lines, or water, and would have to turn around and find another way.  It was like a huge maze, you had to find the one clear path.

Our house, luckily, is built up on our property, but the historical storm surge was just too much.  The water only came in about an inch or two, but that was enough.  Between the corrosive salt water, spilled water tanks, sewage, etc., we knew it was going to be a mess.

The rest of the year was spent arguing with insurance companies, banks, and contractors, and we're still not done.  The silver lining is that our house will be pretty much brand new, but I haven't been able to see that positive aspect yet.  Maybe when we are done with everything, I will be able to breathe.

Between work, the storm, and life in general, I can honestly say that I became depressed.  A few doctors suggested that I go on medication, but I didn't because I'm stubborn.  I probably should have.  I didn't want to be social, I ate lots of crap, and just shut down.  And I didn't care.

This all brings me to this week.  I knew I had to wake up, I knew I gained a lot of weight, but I really just didn't care enough to do anything about it.  Until now.  I finally got on the scale yesterday, and I can't believe how much weight I put on.  For the first time in my blogging journey, I am not going to post my weight, because I'm just so embarrassed.  

Instead of further beating myself up about it, I'm going to use it as incentive to get my butt back in gear!  Back to the gym I went, and out to the grocery store right after.  I forgot how much less it costs to buy healthy food then processed garbage.  My cart was full of produce and lean proteins, and I was sure it was going to be another $80 trip to the store, as many of my pasts trips have been.  It was half that, $40!  And so much good food!

To my friends who stood by me during this difficult year:  Thank you!  Thank you for understanding, helping, and supporting me.  We will be having a big party once the house is done!!!

So, the adventure begins again.  I'm back!!!

Today is day #1, for the 3rd time!

I have been off my routine, as you can probably tell by my lack of posting.  I haven't been completely off, but I haven't been exercising as much as I usually do and I've only been tracking my food half of the time.  I'm sure that tonight when I weigh in I will be back over 190.  It is what it is.  My brain hasn't been in the game lately, and I'm not sure why.  


Today, it's all going to change.  I'm back in the mind-frame of putting myself first, and taking the time and steps necessary to continue on this journey.  I'm not going to let any more time go by wasted.  So far- all food tracked, meals prepared ahead of time, gym scheduled into my day even though it's going to be later than I like, it's still going to happen because it's important.  


Here's a great video shared by Mike B., a fellow WW member (who recently became a lifetime member- congrats!!!).  Simple message, important point!  Take the time to watch it, it's worth it!  And so are you!!!

I'm still alive, I promise!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I haven't been back on track since I left for vacation.  Between that, the hurricane, and school starting, I've been feeling overwhelmed.  I'm back now!


Yesterday was my first day 100% back on plan.  I tracked everything, went back to the gym, and went to my personal training session with some friends from work.  I feel good, and all it took was being in the right frame of mind again.  


Last week I gained .2 lbs, this week I lost 3 lbs.  I'm back down to 188 lbs, a total of 34 down from where I started.  Next week you can look forward to regular posting resuming, I promise!!!

Goodbye Summer!

Well, the time has come.  It's Labor Day, and summer is over.  Work starts again tomorrow, leaving the weekends to grab the last warm rays of sun before autumn fully sets in.  


I have a very good feeling about this school year, in more ways than one.  I believe my weight loss is going to start back up.  I haven't been back on track since my vacation, not tracking my foods, not measuring anything out.  It's nice, but I know it's hurting me.  


I've got a batch of white bean turkey chili going for lunches and dinners during the week.  I'm planning out my meals so that when I go shopping, I know exactly what I need and what I'll be eating when.  The year is busy and crazy, but that means I have to plan ahead, and I work well that way.  


I'm going to get back on track with the gym as well.  It's so much easier for me to go there on my way home from work instead of leaving the house to go there.  I got my new knee brace, so hopefully that will allow me to continue to push myself.


My birthday is October 8.  This year I'm turning 27.  My goal as of now is to reach 140lbs by the time I turn 28.  That's over a year to lose 50lbs.  I can, and WILL, do it!!!!!


To all of my fellow teachers:  Have a great school year!  Here we go...

Life Without Cable

I wasn't sure how I'd do getting rid of the cable boxes.  I knew I'd be very happy about my newly lowered bill from Cablevision, but what about when I actually want to watch televsion?

Let me tell you, this decision is one of the best I've ever made!  I bought an HDMI adapter for my laptops so I can project the screen onto my televisions.  You can find most shows online for free (via the network websites and www.hulu.com).  We also have the streaming service through Netflix for when we want to browse for something to watch.  Finally, we make very good use of our library and the DVD offerings which are essentially free since we pay for the library through our taxes whether we use the service or not.  It's really nice to sit down and watch something you actually have interest in.  I never realized how much garbage I watched simply because "there was nothing else on."  The only issue we are predicting is once football season starts, we can't watch the games we want to at home.  Since the Miami Dolphin games aren't usually broadcast up here, we realized we end up going out to a sports bar to watch them, anyway.  So, Sundays, you will find me representing the Dolphins somewhere other than my house.

Have you thought about going without cable?  If so, try it for a week.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

General Update

Overall, I'm feeling pretty great!  I'm down to wearing a size medium or large shirt (used to be XL or XXL).  When it comes to pants, I now wear a 12 or a 14 (down from 16 or 18).  I'm putting off buying new clothing, but I know I will have to before school starts.  None of my work clothing fits me anymore!  I'm going to buy a few staple pieces, so plan on me wearing the same outfit pretty often!


I still track everything I consume, even when I'd rather not admit to it!  I don't feel guilty about using my extra weekly points, but I try to avoid doing that.  I refuse to track anything on a vacation I have coming up.  I'm going to make wise decisions, but a vacation is a vacation, and I take them so rarely that I am going to enjoy it fully!


Physically, my knee is holding up.  PT ends this week, and that's fine!  I'm doing the exercising on my own, and really just use them for the massage aspect as well as the electric stimulation machines.  My knee has learned to work without being 100%, and even though I know that's not what's best for me, it's going to have to work until I'm ready to have surgery, which won't be for at least a year or two.  A brace is on it's way, and that should enable me to push myself without ending up with a swollen knee.


So, the journey continues.  I'm hoping to reaching my goal weight, or what I think my goal weight is (140 lbs) by the time I turn 28 (October 8, 2012).  45 lbs to go...