I was scanning some old photos tonight and came across a couple gems I wanted to share, I hope you don’t mind.

As you can see, my love of pasta began at a very early age!

Of course there was also this picture:

Yes, that’s me sitting on my dad’s weight bench (those are my sisters standing on either side of me). Seeing this picture tonight sparked something in me. I’d really like to start doing some strength training soon. Maybe the next picture you see of me on a weight bench, I will actually be using the weights.

I just wanted to share those pictures because I think each one depicts something relevant to my weight loss…one is a reflection of my past habits and the other a reflection of my future habits (hopefully).

Today was awesome. I met up with Lynne and we both got a great workout on the treadmill. Having her there really motivated me and made me push myself harder than I ever have before. I reached two milestones today…I ran a whole half mile before having to stop to walk AND I completed a mile in under 14 minutes. (13:39 to be exact) Thank you SO much Lynne for being such a source of inspiration!

While in the car, Lynne and I were talking about our journeys and how we’re trying to inspire our children to live healthier. She brought up this article about a guy who’s doing the same, by allowing his son to run with him, he’s teaching his son that running is ‘normal’. I LOVE that concept and that’s a lot of what I’m trying to accomplish here too. I grew up on good ole’ southern fried food and surrounded by overweight family members. Seriously, just about everyone in my family has weight issues. THAT was my normal. So, here I am now trying to break that cycle of obesity that has plagued my family, if not for me, then for my children. Introducing them to new healthy foods and trying to encourage them to be more active. Madelyn really enjoyed doing the 5k with me. Marisa is in P.E. in school and is really liking it. This is what I’m trying to foster in them…to teach them that being active is normal. Eating healthy is normal. Being fit is normal.

69.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Image by Pippa!

Time again for another Perfect 10 Update. I can’t believe there are only two weeks left to this challenge! Wow, time sure does fly. Here were my Perfect 10 Goals and how I faired on each of them this week:

• Walk 100 miles over the course of the 10 weeks. This will help keep me on track to reach 500 for the year.

I walked and/or jogged 6.5 miles this week bringing my total for the year to 66.85 miles.

This means I need to walk another 33 miles over the next two weeks since I let myself get a little behind. I can do this.

• Continue the C25K program, doing it at least 3 days per week until completed.

I am happy to report that I am now working on
Week 3, day 1.

I’m very thrilled with the progress I’ve made in this. Getting below a 16 minute mile, and then 15 was a major accomplishment for me and now it’s become a real game for me to do a quicker mile each time I try. The night before last I completed a mile in just over 14 minutes. I’m amazed at how quickly my endurance has improved in such a short time since I’ve started jogging.

• Start riding my bike. No time or distance restraints for this. This one is purely just to get over my fear and DO it…at least once and I’ll be happy

Success! See this post.

• Not drink ANY soda. This is also a goal for the year.

So far so good! It’s been 151 days since I’ve had ANY soda.

• Participate in (3) 5k races. This will help keep me on track to do 12 for the year.

I did the Calusa Bug Chase 5K and the Walk for Wishes already.

I need to do one more. I was planning on doing the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, but can’t because my daughter will be in another parade that day. (I’m sad I have to wait another year to participate, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles ) So, I signed up for the Hope, Love, and Faith 5K for MS, which will take place on March 6. Technically, that’s one day after the Perfect 10 challenge ends, but close enough for me!

• Start a garden.

I still haven’t started yet, but I do have a plan!
I really, really need to get this started…SOON.

• Go to bed by 11:00 on work nights, but preferably 10:00.

3 out of 5 nights.

• Sign up for Karate (or another martial art if Karate isn’t available)

I had to put this on hold for a little while due to finances and time restraints.

• Go to the gym at least 3 times per week.

I only went once this week, not for lack of motivation, but just had an incredibly busy week with lots of stuff scheduled.

• Stay within my budget every month (using YNAB) This is a yearly goal as well.

I am doing very well here.

• Read the Bible each day using this plan. Another yearly goal.

I’m still am behind, but slowly catching up.

The other part of this challenge is to post something that others may not have known about me. I was once on the Sally Jesse Raphael show. Crazy, huh? It was for family drama I’d rather not go into. I was 18 at the time and it was my first and only time ever to New York. We were so rushed though that we didn’t get to sightsee at all, so going back to NYC and experiencing all it has to offer has always been a dream of mine (and of course, without the family drama )

Those of you on my facebook may have seen this last night, but I was/am super stoked, so it bears repeating here. Lookie what I can do now!

66.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Let me warn you right now – this is going to be a very long post. I am still computer-less at home for the moment. We are having a local PC shop build us a new one, which is new experience for us, I am excited about getting our new system just the way we want it at a lower price than the box stores could’ve given us. Hopefully it’ll be ready to pick up tomorrow or Thursday, so until then I’m stuck blogging from my phone or from my work computer as I’m doing now…don’t worry, though, I’m on my lunch hour

First things first, yesterday’s weigh-in results:

I weighed in yesterday at 215.4 lbs which is a 2.6 lb loss for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 40.6 pounds!

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t stoked about this. I’m SO close to being out of the 200s now, I can hardly believe it. By the way, I’ve decided how I’m going to reward myself once I do hit the elusive “Onederland”…DAVE MATTHEWS BAND tickets! They’ve been my favorite band for 18 years, yet somehow I’ve managed to go all this time without ever once seeing them live. (oh the shame of it all!) Every summer my sister goes and every summer it’s another excuse as to why I can’t, but not this year. I’ve got the money put aside so the day I step on the scale and the number staring back at me begins with a 1 instead of a 2, I’m ordering tickets. OH YEAH! If that isn’t motivation enough to stay on track, then I don’t know what is.

Now onto some fun stuff. You may recall this post back in November when we first started working on the float for my daughter’s clogging team. Here’s what it looked like back then, before we started:

and here’s what it looked like the day of the Edison Junior Parade on Valentines Day:

Pretty awesome, huh? Our theme was “Winter Wonderland” and we have been working on it almost every weekend for the past few months along with several other clogger parents. Here is a picture of it all lit up during the Edison Grand Parade this past Saturday night (see all the cloggers in there dancing?):

And a few more pictures to share…we had SO much fun.

Here I am with Madelyn, my little clogger, right before the Junior parade on Valentines Day. Please note, I live in Florida where heavy coats are not usually required, I’m wearing it to coordinate with our winter theme. (I walked alongside the float, so I had to be in theme). I bought the coat and scarf specifically for the parade…Note: The coat is an XL and was way too small for me…I couldn’t close it any more than what you see in the picture, but I bought it that way on purpose…maybe by next winter it will be too large!

Here’s a closeup of the ‘igloo’ portion of the float:

Can you believe there’s a truck in there?

And here is our title “Clogging on thin ice for Mr. Edison”:

For those unfamiliar, the Edison Festival of Lights is a 3 week celebration of Thomas Edison who resided in Ft. Myers during the winter months. The festival is our way of honoring his innovative legacy and includes many events including the junior parade, the Grand parade, a Day of Discovery, and a 5K run.

For the Grand Parade, a couple of the moms made these really cute lighted snowflakes for the walkers to wear…here I am sporting mine:

And now a video, that is so incredibly embarrassing, but we had a lot of fun. Click here to watch the youtube video, you’ll get a kick out of it, I’m sure! (I’m the one in the white/black coat with hot pink scarf). Sorry, I couldn’t get it to embed for some reason, so please watch it from youtube.

Laughing yet? See, I told you you’d get a kick out of it! I’m pretty good at the air guitar, aren’t I?

The parades were a blast! It was a totally new experience for us because it was my daughter’s first year on the team. Being in the parades also helped me realize just how far I’d come in the last five months. Five months ago, there was no way I could have walked in those parades. NO WAY. Especially the grand parade which was rather long and we were moving FAST…jogging speed. The route itself was about 3 miles long, but you have to remember I was jumping all around, dancing, and working the crowd along the streets. It wasn’t just a casual walk. We got home that night and my feet had blisters because of the shoes I had on, but I was so thankful for the positive changes I’ve made in my life over the past 5 months, because had it not been for that, I wouldn’t have been able to have enjoyed that experience with my daughter. How’s that for a non-scale victory? We’ll be in yet another parade in 2 weeks!

Gosh, I told ya this was gonna be a long post…and truth be known, there’s so much more I want to write…it’s been really hectic around here the past few weeks. Please forgive me for not coming by your blogs, but without a home PC and as busy as we’ve been, it’s really difficult to do. Just a couple more days and things should be back to normal around here.

Edited to add: I can’t believe I forgot to post this part, but we won “Most Outstanding” float in both parades!

64.35 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

This won’t be my normal update because I still don’t have a home computer.
(motherboard fried,having new built) so, i’m stuck blogging from my phone. Which means I can’t post the perfect 10 image or copy and paste my list of goals. So here is my best shot courtesy of my sprint palm pre

miles logged for the week: 5.5 miles for a total of 60.35 so far this year.
5k’s: Two down, 1 to go.
Going to bed by 10 on work nights: success all week.
Budget: doing good
Bible: not good this week. I really need to buckle down on this.
Going to gym: I went two nights week.

I’m sorry if I’m forgetting something. Busy day tomorrow, we have another parade tomorrow night, The Edison Festival of Lights Grand parade. Really excited about it too! Something you may not know about me is that I would love nothing more than to live in a ranch style home way out in the country somewhere in Tennessee…I may have a professional career in a pretty large city, but deep down I’m just a country girl who wants to look out her front window and see trees instead of another house. Horses instead of electric poles. Yep, that’d be the good life as far as I’m concerned.

My home computer crashed last week so between that and the death of my uncle and just the overall busy-ness of life, I haven’t been able to blog as usual this week. I did, however, weigh myself on Monday though, so here’s that result. As of Monday morning I weighed 218.0 lbs which is a loss of 1.8 lbs from the Monday before. This brings my total loss so far to 38 pounds.

I’ll take it. Some of you might remember that I’m in a fitness challenge that ends on April 1st. Several weeks ago I set a goal for myself to be under 200 lbs by the end of that challenge. It’s starting to look like I won’t make that goal and I’m OK with that, however I don’t think I’ll ever set a weight goal like that for myself ever again. It causes way too much frustration when the weight doesn’t come off fast enough. And the scale can be so wonky at times, like showing a zero loss during a week where I’ve really, really pushed myself and then showing a huge loss when I’ve veered off track some. I can’t predict what the scale’s going to do, so yeah, no more timed weight goals for me! I’m just gonna keep on doing what I know works and concentrate on the big picture…the end goal…I’m not in a race and it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t win the fitness challenge.

One quick milestone that I’d like to share is that I completed a mile last night in under 15 minutes. 14:44 to be exact.

Thank you all for your well wishes and condolences for my family. I sincerely appreciate you all! ♥ And if any of my local friends are reading this, we will be celebrating my uncle’s life at LJ’s (his home away from home) this Saturday at noon if you’d like to come.

59.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

My Uncle Larry was a good man.
He loved his Cathy. He loved cars. He loved junkyards. He loved airboats. He loved to party. He loved LJ’s. He loved his family.
14 years ago, I was pregnant with Marisa and I found myself stranded. One phone call to my Uncle Larry and before I knew it he was right there to pick me up and take me home. When I had a flat tire a few years ago on SR 31, I walked up to LJ’s hoping to see his truck there. It was; and he gladly helped change my tire and get me riding again. He’s helped me a lot through the years and that’s something I’ll never forget. He was always just a phone call away.
I went to visit him in the hospital last year and it was rather late; around 11:00 PM. He was asleep, so I just put my arm on his and said “Uncle Larry, it’s Josie“. His eyes opened briefly and he said “how you doin, baby girl?” He quickly went back to sleep. I wondered after that if he’d remember that I had been there or not. Months later, my dad told me that I was the only person my uncle had remembered coming to visit him. That warmed my heart.
I have a lot of regrets. Mostly that I didn’t reach out more to him through the years and especially that I didn’t go see him yesterday while he was still alive. I hope he knew that I loved him. At least today he’s no longer bedridden and suffering.

Larry Dwight Stidham
July 24, 1954 – February 14, 2010

Alcohol destroyed my uncle’s liver and he was taken from us much too soon as a result. He was only 55 years old. I’ll be making a donation to the Liver Foundation in his honor today. If you’d like to help this cause as well, you can either donate or sign up to walk in a Liver Life Walk in your town.

I had a much different post in mind for today sharing pictures from my daughter’s parade and so much more that happened over the weekend. That’ll have to wait till tomorrow.

57.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Image by Pippa!

It’s time again for another Perfect 10 Update! Here were my Perfect 10 Goals and how I faired on each of them this week:

• Walk 100 miles over the course of the 10 weeks. This will help keep me on track to reach 500 for the year. I walked and/or jogged 13.25 miles this week. This brings my total for the year to 54.85 miles.

I am on right on target. I’ll be walking 3 miles with Lynne tomorrow and another 4 on Sunday for the parade my daughter’s in.

• Continue the C25K program, doing it at least 3 days per week until completed.Success – and I have finally completed Day 1. I’ve been working on this for a while and could never actually complete it the way it’s written. I successfully did Day 1 on Wednesday, so now I’m working on doing day 2.
• Start riding my bike. No time or distance restraints for this. This one is purely just to get over my fear and DO it…at least once and I’ll be happy. Success – See this post.
• Not drink ANY soda. This is also a goal for the year. So far so good! It’s been 137 days since I’ve had ANY soda.
• Participate in (3) 5k races. This will help keep me on track to do 12 for the year. I did the Calusa Bug Chase 5K and the Walk for Wishes. Need to do one more. I was planning on doing the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, but can’t because my daughter will be in another parade that day. So, I need to find a third.
• Start a garden. Still haven’t started yet, but I do havea plan!
• Go to bed by 11:00 on work nights, but preferably 10:00. 4 out of 5 nights!
• Sign up for Karate (or another martial art if Karate isn’t available) Had to put this on hold for a little while due to finances and time restraints.
• Go to the gym at least 3 times per week.Success! I went 5 times this week.
• Stay within my budget every month (using YNAB) This is a yearly goal as well. Doing well here.
• Read the Bible each day using this plan. Another yearly goal. I’m still am behind, but slowly catching up.

I also wanted to mention that I beat my fastest time again. The other night I posted the picture from the treadmill that I did a mile in 16:25, remember? Well, I went back the next night and did a mile in 15:15. This was also the night that I successfully completed day 1 of C25K. I’d walk at 3.2 mph for 90 seconds and then jog/run at 4.5 mph for 90 seconds and kept alternating. I turned it up to 5.0 mph for the last 45 seconds or so and was so incredibly happy when I saw that I had done a mile in 15:15. My great accomplishment of the week!

The other part of this challenge is to post something that others may not have known about me. We moved around A LOT when I was a kid. Up until my junior year of high school I had never went to the same school for an entire year. I think we counted them up one time and I lived in almost 30 different places by the time I was 15. People think I was a Military kid when I tell them this, but I wasn’t. Between us being poor and my step-father being a wanted man for a lot of years, moving was just a way of life for us. This did not bode well for my social life. I got to where I didn’t want to make any friends at all for fear I would just have to say goodbye. I think that’s why I’m so reserved as an adult and have a hard time putting myself out there to make friends.This is probably one of the reasons why the social networking aspect of the internet has been a Godsend for me.

P.S. My home computer crashed, so I apologize for not being able to read and comment on everyone’s blogs. Surfing the net from my phone is great for email and quick tweets and such, but not really for in-depth reading. Hopefully, I’ll be back up and running soon.

54.85 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

NEW RECORD!

OH HELL YEAH!

Tomorrow’s goal? to get under 16!

Weeeeeeeee!

And just think, it was only 4 months ago that I found it hard to walk at 1.5 mph! (That’s a 40 minute mile!)

I felt SO strong tonight at the gym…what a great feeling.

52.1 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

This morning I weighed in at 219.8 lbs which is the same as it was last Monday. That’s zero lost this week, so I’m still at 36.2 pounds lost total.

I guess the lesson I learned this week is that every choice matters. I had six really good days this week. On those days I ate really well, pushed myself in the gym, had kickboxing class and did a 5K. But I also had one off day, remember? And I suppose all the good work I did this week wasn’t enough to make up for that one day I veered. Every choice matters. The choices I made that day to overeat, to eat unhealthy, and not to exercise, MATTERED.

It’s times like these that confirm in my mind that I’ll never be that girl that can just casually eat a cookie, or overindulge one night without ramifications. From the time I started this I had full intentions of making this a lifelong commitment, not a “diet” that would end once I reached a certain weight. But even so, there was always a part of me that hoped that someday I’d be able to indulge in some of the things I’m not right now. That someday it’d be ok to have some birthday cake at parties instead of always passing. That someday it’d be ok to just have a burger every now and then. Now I’m not so sure I’ll ever be able to indulge like that. It’s difficult to see other people who can eat till their hearts content and not think twice about it. Yesterday we were working on the float for my daughter’s clogging team and someone brought McDonalds for everyone for lunch. It was awful nice of them, but of course there were no salads or grilled chicken wraps, ya know? Just burgers, so of course I declined. Meanwhile all these skinny minnies around me are scarfing burgers and fries down. It’s just not fair, I say in my best whiny voice. But, I accept it for what it is so I will continue down this path to a healthier lifestyle. Right now, no other option even seems feasible for me. (What does that say about how my whole mindset has changed?)

Remember a few weeks ago when I tried on some size 20 jeans and they fit? Well, I went shopping last night to buy them because all of my pants have just gotten way too loose. It was time. Well, guess what? The 20’s didn’t fit anymore, so I had to buy these:

SIZE 18W!

I haven’t been a size 18 in YEARS. I’m really stoked about this – it made today’s weigh-in results much easier to swallow!

And just for fun, here I was several months ago, before I ever started this journey, wearing size 24 jeans:

And here I was last night, holding the same jeans:

You can also see this week’s regular progress pics here.

49.6 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Today was the Walk for Wishes 5K that I was doing with my friend Lynne and my sister Christina. I must say that this event was pretty badly organized. They were still marking the route just a few minutes before the race began and it was very confusing. There were several places where flags were marked in two directions and we pretty much had to guess whether or not we were going the right way. My sister and Lynne were pretty sure that they went the wrong way for about 5 minutes before getting back on the right track. To top it all off, when we finished the time was 36 minutes. As much as I wish that were my time for 3.1 miles, there’s NO WAY it was accurate. So, we’re all pretty sure that the route wasn’t actually 3.1 miles, but probably around 2.5. I felt bad for Lynne since this was her first one and all, but we still had a great time and I know it was a great experience for her anyway.

You can click on each picture for a full size view.

Here’s me and Lynne just before the race:

Me and my sister:

The three of us (I really like this shot of us):

Here we are crossing the finish line – yay!

The three of us after the race posing at the start/finish line:

And these last three were just us having fun before the race started:

I’m glad they did it with me because in all honesty, I might not have finished had they not been there. I started off jogging and did great for the first .25 mile but then I got the worst.shin.splints.ever. My legs were on fire and every step I took just hurt worse and worse. I really wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish, but I kept seeing Lynne and my sister ahead of me and that helped motivate me to press on. After the race, we all three went to the gym together and worked out for like an hour I think? I did about 5 miles on the exercise bike and then got on the treadmill. While on the treadmill, my time at .8 of a mile was 15 minutes and I just thought I would try to beat my fastest time…so I upped my speed and jogged my heart out. Then I upped my speed some more, the fastest I’ve ever gone – 5.5 mph. I wasn’t sure my legs could keep up but they did. Of course, I had Christina and Lynne there to cheer me on! I finished in 17:23.

Overall it was an AWESOME day with two AWESOME women! My legs are hating me right now, but it was all worth it! ♥ If you have time, won’t you stop by Lynne’s blog and congratulate her on her first 5K? She rocks! ♥

46.6 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
11.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(2) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)