Skinny Me Week 6

I can't believe I've been doing this for 6 weeks and have nothing to show for it.  So disappointing!  My weight as of this morning was 131.  A lot of my friends said it was because of my "visitor" so let's hope they're right and I'll drop some pounds when the visit is over! 

I joined a weight loss competition with a bunch of people.  We each pitched in $25 and at the end of 6 weeks, whoever has the most percentage of weight lost gets the pot of money.  We have a lot of people in the group so we have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, which is fine by me!  Hopefully I'll get something.  The group is really awesome and we're so supportive of each other, which is crucial to have when losing weight. 

And, I've had to change my workout routine AGAIN!  Tony's work schedule doesn't really allow me to have set nights to do INSANITY with my friend, Sarah, so we've decided that instead of doing it twice a week in the evenings, we are going to do it EVERY morning at 6:30.  Today was the first day and it felt so good.  Even though the workout this morning seemed easier than the others, I was soooo tired! I took some before photos too.  I'm going to send INSANITY my before and after photos when the 60 day challenge is done so I can get my free t-shirt.  You work for that puppy!  If you're looking for a workout program, I HIGHLY recommend INSANITY.  No, they're not paying me to say this.  I've just already seen a huge improvement in my endurance since I've started it.  I may not have lost any weight yet, but I know I'm gaining muscle and I'm becoming healthier, and that's the overall goal. 

Here are my results and my before photos.  I didn't write down everything I ate last week, so some days are blank. 

Date	Food	Exercise	Net	Difference
6/18/2012	1188	-	1188	12
6/19/2012	1227	-	1227	-27
6/20/2012	-	-	-	-
6/21/2012	1285	402	883	317
6/22/2012	800	-	800	400
6/23/2012	-	-	-	-
6/24/2012	1005	-	1005	195

I REALLY hate this photo, but hopefully I'll look much better soon



A House of Order

I am so disorganized.  I like to think I'm organized, but I'm not.  Which is kinda weird because I LOVE making spreadsheets for things to keep track stuff, so you'd think that would transfer over into our home...nope.  I've been wanting to get organized for a while now.  We are moving into a house when our lease is up in February, and I'd like to make the move as less stressful as possible by purging what we don't need and organizing what we do.  But with 2 small children who depend on me and with EVERY room in the apartment needing to be done, the task seems impossible.  THEN I remembered my friend, Jo, cleans and organizes houses for a living.  So I called her up and she's coming over next month to help me with the task.  Our schedules won't allow us to do it sooner, which is okay.  I can get a head start so I'm not too embarrassed when she comes over.  And who wouldn't want to get organized with all the amazing ideas on Pinterest?  Speaking of Pinterest, thanks to this wonderful site, I am taking the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge!  It breaks up organizing your entire house into little steps each week so it's not so overwhelming.  The first week's challenge is the kitchen counters and sink.  I actually already did this project before I knew about the challenge, but I took it one step further.  Check out my before and after pictures.

I threw away old food that was in the white bowl, put the blender, silver canisters and bottle warmer in cabinets, and the spices on the back of the pantry door in an over the door shoe organizer (to be seen in a later post).

I put the microwave bottle sterilizer in a top cabinet because we just never use it.  I kept the spice rack out to hide the cord for the toaster oven.  I put the white bowl with treats in it and the butter dish on top of the toaster oven to save on counter space.

This area didn't need much work.  I put the cords behind the cork board so they are out of sight unless we need to use them.  That's where we charge our cell phones and the tablet.  The knife block is also behind there, but you obviously had no idea.  Just an FYI-we keep the towel on the microwave handle because Gabby always took it off and ran away with it when we kept it on the oven handle.  Now it's out of reach for her grabby hands!

This area didn't need much done either.  I put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, put away all the bottles and put the monitors in the white basket that's on the bar.

 For the bar I just put away the clutter (newspapers and what was in the white basket) and put the monitor in the white basket.  We keep the basket on the bar and put things in it that don't belong in the kitchen and living room and when it's full, we take the basket around the house and put everything away. 

So this challenge wasn't too time consuming because I pretty much did it last week on my own.  I'm happy with it.  It looks a little weird having the counters more clear, but I know it looks MUCH better than even before I did it the first time.  I should have taken pictures of that.  The next challenge tackles kitchen drawers and cabinets.  I'll probably start that this week.  Are you going to take the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge too?

Skinny Me Week 5

I lost 2 pounds!  Woo hoo!  I'm 129 now.  Granted, its not where I really want to be right now-I've had a couple of set backs-but I'm determined to lose the weight before the end of the year.  I've been reading a book called Live Your Life for Half the Price and I read a good principle in it.  It said to look at every purchase in terms of how many hours you have to work to pay for it.  Granted, I don't have a paying job, but I can use this strategy for what I eat.  For example, a 12oz can of Dr. Pepper is 150 calories.  If I chose to drink that soda, I would have to walk 3.5mph for 40 minutes, just to work it off!  I think if I start looking at it like this, I'll be much more likely to stay on track...I hope.  I've enlisted Tony's help.  I told him to start asking me if I am going to walk to work off those cookies, soda, or whatever it is.  He was hesitant because I don't take people telling me what to do too  kindly, but I need the motivation.  I'm not trying to be model skinny.  My goal is to be thin and in shape.  In my early 20's, I was what Jillian Michaels calls "fat skinny."  I was skinny, but not in shape at all!  I just had a high metabolism.  Well, getting married and 2 kids later, my metabolism isn't what it used to be!  I've also decided on a FINAL weekly workout schedule. Here it is:
MWF: Slim in 6  Ab workout routine.  This is only about 13 minutes, but I can't commit to 45 minutes of exercise every day.  It's just not feasible with 2 small children, but I want to do something, so this seemed like a good fit for what I need.


T & TH-Insanity with my friend Sarah-woo hoo!  The last time I did Insanity, I burned over 400 calories.  Not bad at all!  But it kicks your butt!


Saturday-mow my mom's lawn.  I mowed her lawn last week and burned over 300 calories!  Granted I didn't realize her mower had the handle that self propels it and it hadn't been mowed in 2 weeks, so it took me an hour.  I know it won't take that long every week, but I figure if I don't use the self propel feature, it will take me about 30 minutes to do all of it.


I'm also going to stick to my slim fast shakes.  I haven't been doing that, and I NEED to.  I need to train myself to eat less, and better.  I've stopped buying sweets and snacks I like, so when I want something, I have to have a glass of water or a jell-o cup that's only 70 calories.  Luckily Tony and I don't like the same snacks so this won't be hard to do, plus it helps the grocery budget :)


Here are my results from this past week

Date	Food	Exercise	Net	Difference	Running Total
6/11/2012	909	-	909	291	909/1200
6/12/2012	1840	200	1640	-440	2549/2400
6/13/2012	1621	200	1421	-220	3970/3600
6/14/2012	1675	326	1349	-149	5319/4800
6/15/2012	2189	-	2189	-989	7508/6000
6/16/2012	1453	200	1253	-53	8761/7200
6/17/2012	1215	-	1215	-15	9976/8400

If you see me eating something I shouldn't be, feel free to take on Tony's challenge and ask me if I'm going to walk for 40 minutes to burn it off!  The more people I have bugging me, the more likely I am to stop!          

Skinny Me Week 4

I had family in town this week and I only counted calories ONE day this week!  I'm so mad at myself.  And I guess I went way overboard because I stepped on the scale a few minutes ago and it said 131-my starting weight.  I KNOW I didn't go over that many calories.  That's an extra 24,500 over the calories I need to maintain my weight, which at 126 is 1677, meaning I ate 26,177 calories last week-not possible!  So maybe it's time to invest in a new scale.  The one I have is REALLY old and was given to me by a friend.  I'll look into them this week.  Here are the results of this past week, even though I only did 1 day.

Date	Food	Exercise	Net	Difference	Running Total
6/4/12	1510	200	1310	-110	1310/1200
6/5/12					/2400
6/6/12					/3600
6/7/12					/4800
6/8/12					/6000
6/9/12					/7200
6/10/12					/8400

Skinny Me Week 3

I'VE GOT TO BE BETTER AT EXERCISING!!! That's all I'm going to say about that.  Here are my results for week 3:

Date	Food	Exercise	Net	Difference	Running Total
5/28/12	1515	414	1101	99	1101/1200
5/29/12	1702	287	1415	-215	2516/2400
5/30/12	1420	400	1020	180	3536/3600
5/31/12	1070	200	870	330	4406/4800
6/1/12	1522	200	1322	-122	5728/6000
6/2/12	1297	200	1097	103	6825/7200
6/3/12	1760	200	1560	-360	8385/8400

And as of June 1st, I'm down to 126!!!  I'm finally in the normal weight range!  Woo hoo!!!