A huge goal met!

50 lb lost charm from WW! Took 53 weeks!

Today I hit a major goal! I have lost 50.2 lb since Jan 2, 2011! I am thrilled! I know last week when I blogged about everything, I was going to hit it this week! And sure enough I lost 4.2 lb this weigh in!

This last week, I have really changed up my outlook on this "diet." I knew things needed to change, and so I changed them-for the better! I tracked all week! I didn't miss a single thing (ok, maybe gum, but dude, it's 5 Kcal). I actually double tracked: WW points plus and calories on Myfitnesspal.com. It was interesting to see. 
Mon: 2,060 cal / 49 P+
Tues: 1,949 cal/ 48 P+
Wed: 1,519 cal/ 38 P+
Thurs: 1,901 cal/ 44 P+
Fri: 1,849 cal/ 53 P+
Sat:1,948 cal/ 44 P+
Sun:1,537 cal/ 40 P+
I earned 66 Activity Points per WW & burned 3,378Calories per MFP in 265 minutes of activity!

I think this is good to see, to be able to reflect on the effects of training 6 of 7 days last week. This week I plan on adding weight lifting to the mix.
Mon, Wed, Sat: TKD
Mon & Wed: Weights
Tues, Thurs, Sun: C25k week 2

So there it is, hit 50 lb, feel great about last week's workouts, and how I ate. So hopefully I can continue this trend. New goal is 60 by the end of February.

18!

For the last 4-5 years, Mom,Michelle and I hit Lane Bryant's 50% Black Friday Sale. This year, I knew I was going to need to get some clothes after this year's weight loss. When we finally made it to LB this afternoon, I was grabbing jeans to see what size I was. I figured a 20, since I had been in 22s for a while. Nope! I fit into size 18! HOLY SMOKES! Granted they are tight, but with another 5 lb I am sure they will fit like butter. So by the time I get the jeans for Christmas (Thanks Mom!), they should fit! I am so excited!!!

The Bermuda Triangle!

Today at Weight Watchers we were introduced to the worst thing ever (in diet land), the Bermuda Triangle! It's not in the Caribbean either, it's the trifecta of Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas (Winter holidays). Yep, it's here, in Portland, Oregon! Who would have thought to look here. :) So after last weeks disastrous weight gain of 4.6 (thank you fat jeans & taco night on Sunday), this week was better with a loss of 2.0. So I still need to loose 2.6 to get back to my lowest of 40.8 lb lost. Can we say difficult with Halloween coming up next Monday?

This year instead of buying candy a week before the dreaded night, I haven't purchased a single piece. I am sure Rob is missing the opportunity of munch on the junk, and I know Chandler would be trying to sneak it, but oh well! After hearing ideas in our meeting today, I decided I will not buy anything until that afternoon-who cares if all the good stuff is gone?! I don't! But as I was stopping by McDonald's to grab a $1 Large Diet Coke, I saw that they have 12 coupons for $2 to give as treats! Perfect! Nothing to eat!!!! So I grabbed one of those. We had NO kids last year-which sucked-so I am not planning for a huge amount of kids.

The hard part will be not eating what the kids are bringing home that night!
MUST.NOT.TOUCH.ANY.CANDY!
So Weight Watchers, at least our location, is collecting it to send to the troops! How cool is that!? So the kids will get a small baggie, and the rest will be dropped off on Tuesday! Done and gone! :)

This weekend I will be heading to Cannon Beach & Rockaway Beach for the Singing Christmas Tree Retreat! I am very excited to have 2 nights away with just mom and myself. There will be a lot of singing and work to do, but it will be so nice. I am hoping to have some time to do some walking around Cannon Beach, getting in some needed exercise. I am hoping to be able to keep on plan while I am away for the weekend, and keep myself in check. I probably should stay away from Mo's clam chowder! But I'm a sucker for that yummy warm goodness. Moderation!

Goals:
TRACK!
No touching candy!
Walk around the beach while at the retreat
Stay on plan
Map out the week's menu

A goal hit!

A while ago, I made a goal to hit 40 lb. If I hadn't been a slacker in August, I would have hit it in September, but alas, I was. So I hit it today! I am down 40.8 lb since Jan 2! Sweet! I lost 3.4 lb this last week, which was great. I know I haven't really posted much, but I am working on it.

This week, Chandler & I will belt test in Taekwondo. I am hoping to try for a double belt promotion, but only if Chandler will be able to do the same. He's confident he's ready to try, so I let him lead (as well as Master Null). We just need to practice our Korean terminology and Q&A portion of the test. I had a goal (in addition to) to be able to Ax Kick at my head level by this week. I accomplished that goal two weeks ago! Who would have known a 290.4 lb woman could do that! I did! :)

I have been also working on eating more homemade food, less junk. I think I have been doing pretty good with that. A lot of soup and sandwiches for lunch. I will try and put some recipes up this week. I tried a Pasta Fegioli soup from Skinnytaste that was great! And I made some PB Banana Muffins that were good too-needed some mini chocolate chips, though.

Team Warriors 4 Alex, 2011

 The Brown family also participated in the Light the Night walk on Oct. 1. It was a great moment for the Warriors 4 Alex, even though Alex was still at the hospital recovering from his Bone Marrow Transplant.  We had over 60 Warriors walk with us and it was a very moving evening, even with a little bit of a sprinkle. So far our team has raised over $9,300! We have two more fundraisers coming up, Dutch Bros Beaverton on Monday Oct 24, and Zumba at Hardcore Training Studio on Nov 5! If you can come, check out our facebook page www.facebook.com/warriors4alex.

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The Browns

In the mean time, check out the pages below! More progress and notes!

Progress page
Taekwondo Diary

10%, woo!

Jeannine and I with my 10% ring!

Today was a great day, and it's only noon! On Friday I did my weigh in at Weight Watchers to find out that I had already hit 10%, loosing 3.8 lb since Monday. So today when I went in, I was hoping last night's dinner at John's didn't kill that 3.8 lb that I had already lost. It didn't! Today I was down 5.2 lb, for a total loss of 34.6 lb!

A few things helped in getting me to this point this week. I didn't step on the scale at home. I only stepped on the WW scale and my doctor's scale last week. I counted and tracked! I made wise choices, salad with chicken instead of pasta at Ernesto's, and at John's, I went with salad first then had the pizza... Filled up on the healthy, before the "junk." And I used Sharon's advice, trying Walk of the Pounds DVD. I did it 4 times last week, and man was covered in sweat. In 15 minutes, I burned 300 calories, just walking in place (some sideways, forward & backwards included)! I was sold. So I moved! Plus I didn't sit on my butt as much! I was busy doing things, gearing up for Linc's birthday party on Sunday (gasp).

Bodybugg Stats:
Calories burned: 3314
Calorie Consumed: 1870
Calorie Deficit: 1444
Activity time: 1 hr 7 min
Steps taken: 6861
Hours slept: 7 hrs 39 minutes

Not too bad! Goal for this coming week, continue with the Walk off the Pounds DVDs, track, and try one new recipe (Skinnytaste.com has some that I am going to try), and be good on Linc's birthday!

Here's a picture of Jean

Have a great week! Much love,

What's the worst?

After last week's long list of emotions and changes I was prepped for a gain... How much was the big question. Sure enough at the weigh in this morning I was up .2. On Friday I was up 1.4, so I was fine with the .2! So I am 6 pounds away from my 10% goal.

I already hit the gym this afternoon, getting back to the weights and cardio. Tomorrow, I'll do the same. Now the challenge comes in! Rob starts working in the Fab on Wednesday. Do I take Lincoln with me to the gym and go for an hour or do I wait and go at night (around 9)? Hell, I suppose I could just figure out some sort of cardio and do the weights at the house since I have a bench and a set of dumbbells. Hmmm.

I just see myself using that as an excuse!!! I don't want to do that. I need to prep my body for my 2 hour Zumba class/benefit on Sunday! So I have to hit the gym. I am excited though that my sister will be coming to the benefit for Chandler & Lincoln's speech clinic (Kidtalk).

I am also realizing that Rob will be home for Sunday night and every other Wednesday night for dinner. That's a bit of a bummer, and it also kills my being able to blame him for not knowing what to do for dinner! Doh! So tonight I sat down with Chandler and we came up with a 2 week dinner plan, or I should say 12 days worth since Rob will get the nights he's home! LOL.

The other thing I need to come clean on is that I haven't been tracking! I jumped back online today and started tracking again. I know that is 50% of this thing, knowing what goes in the mouth!

So this week: TRACK TRACK TRACK and hit the gym!

Facing the music Monday...and it's beautiful!

Last week's weigh in on Monday was not good (up 2.4), but I knew it when I walked into WW that morning. Last week was a difficult week since I lost my laptop (hard drive on Sunday and motherboard on Wednesday), and anyone who knows me, knows that is a very difficult thing to loose!!!! Talk about stress! Thank goodness we have the Geeks (Geeksaknockin) who took care of my hard drive, and Costco for having a 2 year warranty!!! As of this morning it's now fixed, but I am now recovering my data (thank you Carbonite), which will take some time.

But to the weigh in, itself! I went in on Friday (Good Friday to be exact) and jumped on the scale. I was down! I was down 2.6! Woo! Now I knew I had worked out hard, cardio and lifting on my own. It's been hard to make it to group exercise classes as of late, so I am developing my own system using the stuff I learned in Bodypump! Looks like it's working. I made it to the gym 3 times, one of them being Sunday morning before Easter service. I wanted to make sure I was good, and had a good calorie burn since it was not only Easter but my 33rd birthday!

I was good, I didn't measure, but I made good choices. I picked turkey over prime rib, 1/2 of a baked potato, more green beans, less creamed corn (OMG, that was to die for since it was homemade). The birthday cake was homemade too, and it was delish! Ok, I know you all want to know the bottom line!

And that is, I am down 5.4 in 1 week! Holy moly! What a great birthday present! Total loss is 24.

Here is a photo from Saturday night, when we went and saw the 10 Grands concert (Mom and I). Needless to say I was thrilled! And I also did my inches, and I'm down 7" at least since February!

Thanks for all the support! Here's to being down at least 25 next week!


Bodybugg data for the last week:
Calories burned (2800 goal): 3071 Average
Calories consumed (1800 goal): 1754 Average
Calorie deficit (1000 goal): 1317 Average
Physical Activity(45 min goal): 41 min Average
Steps (8000 goal): 5148 Average
BMI: 50

Weigh in Monday

Today I was dreading the weigh in... Honestly I hadn't been too good (or on plan) the last week. But I pay for WW for a reason, to hold me accountable! So I reminded my self that gains are normal and to be expected in the course of a long journey.
So when I weighed in this morning, I was prepping for the worst! But I didn't have to prep myself at all! Some how in the last week that included more birthday cake and pizza (3 times-yikes), I lost 1.8! Which brings me to my newest star, 20 lb lost! Holy cow!

Needless to say I was very excited, but very cautious. After a big loss last week, I was not expecting a big loss this week.

This week in our meeting we spoke about the upcoming Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge, coming up in 6 weeks on May 22nd. It will be a 5k walk. I cannot remember when I voluntarily walked 5k (I mean we did the Light the Night walk in October, but it was more like a stroll). So in 6 weeks I will be doing my first 5k (walk, maybe a run in a year). I am going to be asking (read: begging) friends to come along with me. So if you are interested, let me know!!! You don't have to be doing WW to come along. It will be in Beaverton, near Cedar Hills Crossing.

So the stats for the last week off the Bodybugg:
Avg. calories burned: 3126 (2800 goal)
Avg. calories consumed: 1693 (1800 goal)
Avg. calorie deficit: 1433 (1000 goal)
Avg. physical Activity: 36 min (45 min goal)
Avg. steps: 4604 (8000 goal) Need to bump this up for the walk!
BMI: 50.1 (started at 53.5)

I've been using the BB for 4.5 weeks now, and my goal was 2.0 lb loss (maintaining the 1000 calorie deficit). I can say I've been loosing on average 2.0 a week! Woo! Hopefully I can keep that up for the next 6 weeks. If I do, I'll hit my 10% goal on the weigh in post 5k!

Weigh in Monday!

Today's weight in was a bit of a surprise. I was bad over the weekend, and was dreading Monday morning. But I went, needing to be accountable for my actions, no matter how bad they could have been. This week I was down 1.8; total loss of 14.8! I am .2 from the 15 lb mark and 2.4 from my 5% goal!

So this was a good morning! Plus I didn't have to bring Lincoln with me, which was a HUGE bonus. Next week is spring break, Chandler will be coming along, which is fun since I know there is another woman who has kids the same age as mine, and they'll be there! :)

I need to work on getting into the gym more, I was only in twice last week, and that's not ok. Plus I was really bad about tracking my food. I know in my head I was close to the 1800 calories I aim for, but I know I blew it when I caved and hit Sonic with the family. So other goal is to get better at tracking the food. I am still wearing the Bodybugg so there isn't a reason NOT to track.

Also a goal is to try 2 new things this week.

I'll be posting later this week about Chandler's room renovation. It's been a fun project. Oh and speaking about project, I have a new crochet project to post on! It's been a fun project too.

Weigh in Monday

I knew today was going to be a rough day at my WW meeting: the day after Super Bowl, aka food bowl. But I wasn't going to let it get me down at all. Yes I splurged, I had a small slice of poppy seed cake (skipped the frosting) and 1/2 a chocolate cupcake (skipped frosting). So I knew it wasn't going to be too pretty. I was right, +1.6! Doh!

But on the other hand, this morning, I got up dropped Chandler at the bus, and took Lincoln to the gym to do Bodypump at 9 am, of course my meeting is at 10:45, so I think that also could be part of the reason my number was higher. At least that's what Rob said could happen.

But I am good with it, you know why? I *feel* good! I am feeling more energy, even if I am stiff and sore. Insert groan here. Ha! This morning I even bumped up my weights that I am using, and the instructor of Bodypump gave me a trick to help me with lunges (I loathe those), since I have a hard time balancing while keeping perfect form. Score.

So last week I worked out 4 days, 3 of those days were classes (Zumba and Bodypump). I will be keeping with the goal of 4 days. I need my body to be able to recover. But tonight I am going to be INSANE! I am going to hit Zumba too, daily doubles, much? Yep. I am also going to have Rob help me do my measurements. I should have done it when I started 5 weeks ago, but oh well, better late than never.

So there it is, I gained, and I am OK with it. After last week, I am surprised I feel that way. Let's hope next week will be OK since it's our 7th Anniversary and we are going out to dinner. Wish me luck!
Mel

New year, new start!

This year, I am actually going to try to keep to something I resolve to do. It never works, but alas, I try. For 2011, and beyond, I am going to give it my all to loose this blasted weight. With all of Chandler's health issues fixed (Tethered Spinal Cord surgery June 7, 2010), it's time to focus on myself. Not for the selfish reasons, but to be alive to see my grand babies (here's hoping)!

So I start this year...FAT! I pray I am just less FAT!


I am going to loose weight by doing Weight Watcher's Points Plus system. Currently I am allowed 49 points. I don't know how to eat that much and loose weight, but Rob tells me you have to eat to loose. He's also aiming to loose some pounds, so we will do this together! Plan is to hit 24 hr Fitness 3 times a week to do either Zumba or 24Lift. Then two more times to do weights.

My blog goal is to blog on my weigh in days: thinking Monday right now. I will even give you the shameful numbers! I need to own it, even if I am embarrassed by it.

So tomorrow, I'll report the whole deal. Promise!

Reflections

A new blog address, and a first post of the year! So we are 3 weeks into 2010 and life is returning back to normal as much as it was in November. Rob's back in school, so is Chandler. Major difference between November and January is, the amount of toys in the family room and the fact that Lincoln is walking. But with a new year (thank God 2009 is OVER, what an awful year!) reflection is a part of the tradition... Instead of reflecting on 2009, I look forward.

For 2010, I have a few goals, not resolutions, but goals.
1. Stick to the diet & gym.
They won't hurt you, only make you stronger, literally.
2. Keep working on reading the Bible, daily!
It will make you stronger, but in faith and love for God.

I have kept it simple. Those are the goals. We'll see where we are in 49 weeks, on how I did. :)