I’ve decided to join the Weekend Warriors Challenge being offered by Brandon.

Weekends are my weakness when it comes to exercise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m active and I get out and do stuff, but I rarely go to the gym on the weekends or purposefully exercise -that’s always been reserved for the workweek. So this challenge will be good for me and might also prove to be beneficial to my weigh-ins, which are always on Mondays, right at the close of the weekend.

The rules are simple; Set 2-3 health/fitness related goals each weekend and report our progress on Monday. Here are the three things I want to accomplish this weekend so I can be a warrior!

1. Work out Friday night (something I never do) for at least 30 minutes.
2. Map out and walk/run 3 miles on Sunday. If any of my local friends read this and want to do this together, let me know!
3. Limit myself to 1 glass of tea each day. (I’ve noticed that I’ve been drinking way too much tea on the weekends and not enough water.)

So those are my goals. I should also point out that I should be getting a fair amount of exercise in on Saturday as well. I’ll be doing the Hope, Love, & Faith MS 5K Run/Walk first thing Saturday morning. By the way, my goal for this one is to complete it in less than 50 minutes. I think/hope this is reachable since I’ve been increasing my pace lately. Then, Saturday night, we’ll be in yet another parade:

This will be the Celebrate Cape Coral parade, and I’ll again be walking (as a snowflake) along with my daughter’s float. The route is about 2 miles long, I think, so that’ll be a total of about 5 miles for Saturday alone.

Now for an update on my mom; thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and prayers you sent our way. The surgery went well and she’s recovering. There were some issues yesterday with her blood pressure. It was at 72/38 when she came out of surgery and they couldn’t get it to go up until around 6:30 last night, but at least it did finally go up. When I called her this morning, she informed me that she had ran a fever all night, so hopefully they’re able to stop the fever and she doesn’t run into any more issues. There was a rather emotional moment yesterday. After surgery, the three of us were just sitting in her room and she was talking her weight and she said she was so proud of me and my sister for losing the weight we have to be healthy so that we won’t end up with a lot of the health issues she has. She said she only wished someone would have told her years ago how it would have affected her life because she would have made changes a long time ago, not only for herself, but she also said she would have fed us differently as children. I don’t blame my mother in the least and I told her she had nothing to apologize for. It was just the kind of moment that sticks with you though and makes me even more committed to this new lifestyle of mine, not just for me, but for MY children. Ya know?

72.5 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)

I got this idea from the lovely Mary over at A Merry Life and thought I would join in on the food love/hate fest.

FIVE FOODS I USED TO LOVE:

Burger King Whoppers I had these nearly everyday for lunch during the work week. MmmmMMm. I’d scarf two down, along with fries and/or onion rings literally almost every day. I am happy to say I haven’t had a BK burger since September.

Ice Cream I’ve been known to eat a whole quart of cookies ‘n cream ice cream before. This is something else I haven’t indulged in since I started this back in September.

Pasta made from white flour Pasta is a huge weakness of mine, I just love the stuff. Now when I have it I eat whole wheat pasta which is so much better than the white stuff. I don’t ever want to eat the white flour stuff again.

Cheese I was always a HUGE cheese lover and would eat cheese on lots of stuff. The more the better. I still like cheese, but since September, I’ve been real careful about having less. Like when we have chicken tacos, I eat mine without cheese now and honestly, I DON’T MISS IT AT ALL.

Pepsi Drinks count, right? Hi, my name is Josie and I’m a recovering soda addict. I had a long sordid affair with the stuff and am SO glad it’s finally over. Yes, I still crave it from time to time, but with each passing day it gets better.

FIVE FOODS I LOVE:

Fruit Parfait This has become my new favorite treat. I’ll take some plain greek yogurt (something I never had prior to September!) and add some fruit, either fresh or frozen. MMMmmmm. I love this stuff and it’s so good for you.

Whole Grain Pasta See above list. I just love this stuff and wish I had tried it a lot sooner in life. I don’t eat near the amount of pasta I used to, but when I do, at least I know I have a healthier option.

BLT I love BLT sandwiches and take one for lunch a lot of days now.

Strawberries My favorite fruit! I eat strawberries as a side dish with dinner a lot of nights…so yummy! I also love foods made with strawberries like strawberry pie (Perkins is the BEST), strawberry muffins, etc.

Mashed Potatoes Oh, how I love thee! I haven’t had any since I started in September. None, at all. Not even for Thanksgiving and Christmas…but I still want them SO bad. Potatoes are truly a weakness of mine. I was telling Lynne the other day that it was nothing for us to get up on a Saturday morning and fry up a whole 10 lb bag of taters. Talk about portion control!

FIVE FOODS I HATE:

Mayo I’m lucky in this regard because I see a lot of dieters struggle with trying to eat less/no mayo. I have always hated the stuff!

Greens Turnip greens, collard greens, etc…YUCK. I may be a southern girl, but not when it comes to greens! blech!

Sour Cream Ew. Just Ew.

Rye Bread Just something about the aftertaste it leaves, I can’t stand it.

Oats I really wished I liked these because I could always use more fiber in my diet and some of the dishes I see made with oats ‘look’ so good. But, something about the texture I just can’t stomach them.

Feel free to join in on the food love/hate fest! It was neat to sorta jog my brain and ponder how my eating habits have changed over the last five months!

I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before, but my mom had the Lap Band surgery a couple years ago. Well, she’s had a lot of complications since then and now her gall bladder has stopped working altogether. So, tomorrow morning she’s having surgery to have her gall bladder removed. Hopefully all goes well. In the past I would have just gone up to the hospital after work, but in light of all the loss this past month (my uncle, Steve’s dad, beej’s uncle, and Karyn’s dad) I don’t want to take any chances, so I’ve taken the day off tomorrow to be with her. If you feel led to pray or send good thoughts, I’d sure appreciate it on her behalf.

In other news, if all goes well with her tomorrow, I will be doing something very exciting with my family tomorrow evening. Stay tuned for more details!

71.5 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)

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)

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)

Thank you all so much for your comments on my post last night. I felt silly vulnerable after posting it and considered deleting it almost immediately after publishing, but now I’m glad I didn’t. Getting it out did me good…reading your comments did me better. Yes, I was crying too, holy cow! I’m pretty speechless at the moment concerning all of it, but just know that I’m very appreciative of your support.

I woke up this morning and just told myself that today would be a better day because I was going to make it so – and it was. My eating was back on target, I had a great workout this evening, and I feel like my emotions are almost back in check.

Before I go, let me tell you what happened at the gym tonight. It was kickboxing night and it was a brutal workout. She had us working muscles I didn’t know exist – seriously. Afterwards I went and hopped on the treadmill to get a couple miles in like I always do. Having the goal to reach 500 for the year is what motivates me to do that, otherwise I’d likely just go home afterwards. Anyway, my sister came over and told me that the kickboxing trainer was talking to her about me not realizing that we were sisters. She was telling my sister how impressed she was that I always got on the treadmill afterwards because once class is over she’s ready to be done and go home. I was pretty stunned that the trainer was impressed by me.

I was so tired when I got home that I went to sit on my bed to take my shoes off and get a shower and the next thing I know I was waking up an hour later. I just fell asleep like that! LOL!

Anyway, thanks again – I’m still in this fight. I haven’t given up, and am going to do everything in my power to make sure I don’t!

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

Remember the other day when I was talking about emotions? and how I could no longer pretend like my weight-loss journey was merely a physical challenge unaffected by anything mental or emotional? Well, today was very tumultuous for me, both physically and mentally. So, here I am tonight, entering brand new territory on my blog as I share some of the innermost thoughts I had today.

For some reason, I woke up and felt very heavy. I don’t know how well I can explain this feeling, but I’ll try. Since I started working out and increasing my strength and endurance, I’ve noticed that I walk around a little taller. A little more confident. A little faster. A little lighter. On those days I feel strong and capable and my presence reflects that. Today was the opposite and I don’t know why, but I just felt sluggish, incompetent, weak, and for lack of a better word, heavy. As a result, loads of self doubt crept in and I was asking myself questions like “who are you kidding? you really think that you will ever be able to run a marathon?” All day I found myself looking down at my belly rolls and thinking how delusional I was to ever think that someday they wouldn’t be there. I’m an all or nothing kind of gal and I just kept telling myself that even IF I get down to my goal weight I will still have rolls of loose skin, stretch marks, etc. I must have went to the restroom 10 times during the work day just to look at my face up close in the mirror investigating new lines that seem to have appeared overnight. Are they a result of the weight I’ve lost so far? Will they get worse as I lose more like I’ve seen on other women who’ve lost a lot of weight? (Like Tracy, from the BL last season) Would I be better off staying fat so that at least the skin on my face will stay smooth for a few more years? Then I’d look down at my feet in frustration at just how ugly they looked today. I used to love the way my feet looked in sandals, but now I just have fat, old lady feet that are all hardened on the bottom and blegh. How would they look once I lost the weight? They’ll never be back where they were 100 pounds ago so what’s the point? That’s a lot of self-doubt for one day, I know.

I’m not posting all of this to elicit sympathy from anyone. Trust me, it’ll be very hard for me to hit that “publish” button once I’m done. I just feel like this struggle is sometimes harder than the struggle of whether or not to eat that cookie. I find it easier now to resist soda than I do to accept myself. As my struggles evolve, so should my blog.

This turmoil that plagued me today not only affected my demeanor, but also my eating and exercise, which was non-existent. Lunch was ok, but for dinner my husband cooked mashed potatoes. Some of you might remember how I had to have a Plan B (and C) for Thanksgiving last year (and I did SO well that day) because mashed potatoes are a great weakness of mine. “Trigger food” if you will. Well, I decided to have a portion of them tonight and it certainly triggered something in me to have more…and more. And then after dinner I had pudding. And nachos. And THREE glasses of sweet tea. (I normally only drink water, with an occasional tea probably once a week, never more than one glass a day, so this was a lot of sugar for me today.)

So yes, I had a rough day. Deep down inside I know I’m capable, it’s just hard sometimes to realize it. I can see the progress I’ve made, not only in pictures, but also in how much I can do now compared to four months ago. I’m able to walk faster and farther. I can jog now. I am in kickboxing. I’m drinking almost 100 oz of water a day on average, and that’s coming from someone who used to drink two 2-liters of Pepsi a day. It’s like my head sees the progress and knows I’m capable but convincing my soul is turning out to be a much more difficult task than I ever thought it would be.

Some days my inner fat girl wins and today was one of those days. I have to keep telling myself that I am capable…that it WILL be worth it…and maybe, just maybe I can reach a point where my inner fat girl doesn’t have a voice anymore – at least not one that has any control in my life.

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

We celebrated my mom’s birthday today and since I volunteered to make the cake, we had all sorts of sweet temptations lurking in my home all weekend…and I’m happy to report that I resisted it all. Well, I may or may not have had a lick or two of icing, but yeah.

It was the first cake I’ve baked since taking on this challenge to lose weight. I could have refused and just asked my sister to get a cake or something so that I wouldn’t have that kind of temptation here, but that wouldn’t be confronting my struggles now would it? Everyone seemed to like it…the top heart shaped layer was covered in coconut, my mom’s favorite. Speaking of my mom, here she is with my two daughters:

So, happy birthday Mom and thanks for all you do! ♥

I haven’t worked out since Friday evening because my ankle started bothering me. I have an old injury that I think flared up because of all the walking/jogging I did last week. So I decided to wrap it and stay off of it for the weekend which has helped a lot. I plan to be at the gym bright and early tomorrow morning to get this week started off good like I did last week. I have another 5K (walk for wishes) next Saturday and my goal is to beat my previous time.

Hope you all had a great weekend…mine was a bit trying but I think I came out stronger for it. Tomorrow is my weigh-in and if my sneak peek on the scale this morning holds true, then tomorrow will be a very good day for me indeed!

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

Image by Pippa!

Wow, it’s that time again for another Perfect 10 Update…can you believe we’re already done with Week 4??

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 SIXTEEN miles this week! That’s the most for me so far in one week. So I really did some catching up this week. This brings my total for the year to 30.5 miles.
• Continue the C25K program, doing it at least 3 days per week until completed.MAJOR success
• 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 123 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 last weekend and am registered for the Walk for Wishes on Feb. 6th. I still need to find a 3rd.
• 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. Succeeded 5 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.I went FOUR times this week, two of which were in the same day.
• 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 have a lot of catching up to do on this.

Had a GREAT week fitness wise. WOW, probably the most intense so far. I have really been trying to push myself to go farther and faster on the treadmill. I am so determined to become a runner…someday. I just realized tonight that I don’t really have any foodie goals in the Perfect 10. Surprisingly, I’ve been doing rather well with my eating, and I hope that continues. I do want to start trying new foods, and eat more whole/organic foods, maybe I’ll work on those things in the next challenge.

The other part of this challenge is to post something that others may not have known about you. I already let the cat out of the bag to Pippa, so I told her this would be my next Perfect 10 secret so I could give more details. I have a tattoo! The tattoo is of a black cat sitting tall, with bright green eyes and a pretty pink bow. The reason I chose this design is too personal to share, however I will say that this cat completely represented me and my life at the time I got it at the ripe old age of 20. I’m no longer the same person I was 15 years ago (who is?) but I don’t regret getting it at all. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded of who I was then, who I am now, and the journey between the two. The other day when I was talking about rewards I mentioned that I already knew how I wanted to reward myself when I reach my final goal weight…well, I want another tattoo. I’ve wanted another one for years now, but have resisted because I didn’t want to get it while I was fat. I have told myself for the last decade that if I ever lost weight I’d get another one, so that’s what I intend to do! While I don’t have a specific design yet for my future tat, I’d love to get one of my girls’ faces. I have another 88 pounds to lose before I reach my goal, so I have lots of time to figure it out.

So now you know! Do you have any tattoos?

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

I can’t believe we’re already into Week 3 of the year! As such, it’s time for my Perfect 10 Update.

Image by Pippa!

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 have walked 14.5 miles so far. I’m a little behind on this, but not not too far that I can’t catch up.
• Continue the C25K program, doing it at least 3 days per week until completed.I only did this once this week.
• 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. MAJOR success here – See this post
• Not drink ANY soda. This is also a goal for the year. So far so good! It’s been 116 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 am now registered for 2 – The Calusa Bug Chase which is tomorrow and the Walk for Wishes on Feb. 6th. I still need to find a 3rd.
• Start a garden. Not yet, but I have decided to go with Square Foot Gardening at the recommendation of Steve and Karyn . (Thanks!) So at least now, I have a plan.
• Go to bed by 11:00 on work nights, but preferably 10:00. Succeeded 4 out of 5 nights.
• Sign up for Karate (or another martial art if Karate isn’t available) All signed up for my first session next Monday! See this post for more info.
• Go to the gym at least 3 times per week. Did not make it to the gym at all 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 have a lot of catching up to do on this.

Overall, I’m content with where I am. As I posted yesterday and the day before, my week hadn’t really gone as planned and as a result my workouts suffered. I had good intentions, but in the end I had to find the balance between family and this new lifestyle of mine, and family will always be my first priority. I did get a lot accomplished though between walking the bridge, fitting into size 20 jeans, and riding a bike finally.

Also, in case you missed it above, I am participating in my first 5k of the year tomorrow at the Calusa Nature Center. It’s called the Calusa Bug Chase and it’s sponsored by the Kiwanis. The reason it’s called “Bug Chase” is because the proceeds go to help their “Bug” program which stands for Bringing Up Grades. It also coincides with the Nature Center’s “Creepy Crawlie Day” tomorrow. (Looks like fun, eh? ) However, when I signed up, there was no option to sign up as a walker; only as a runner. So I am kinda sorta (okay, maybe A LOT) nervous about being the slowest one out there. I am not letting that stop me from going though. The good part is that both of my daughters wanted to do it with me, so I will not be alone. At least if I’m last, we’ll all be last together.

The other part of this challenge is to post something that others may not have known about you. I’ll keep it simple and just share another of my fears – escalators. I saw a movie a long time ago that showed a woman dying a gruesome death in one and ever since then I’ve feared them. I will get on one, but I have to remain completely still, staring down at one spot, holding on to the side the entire time. It freaks me out even more to see people walking up or down them.

Update: I have decided to add a new goal for the year and for the Perfect 10 as well. I’d like to bike 300 miles for the year. I hope to have ridden 50 miles by the end of the Perfect 10.

14.5 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
6.4 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)