This post is long overdue. And it’s going to be a long one.

It’s no secret that I struggled pretty bad last month. Thankfully, I’m making strides now to “come back” and re-lose what I gained. I’m getting my mojo back and I sure don’t want to lose it again…so that’s where this post comes in. I want to give a complete status update on where I am currently in my journey as well as share my plans going forward.

This is me wiping my hands clean of the last month and starting anew.

WHERE I’M AT:

Mondays are my ‘official’ weigh-in days and as of Monday of this week I weighed 200.5 lbs. I’ve lost a total of 55.5 pounds since the beginning of my journey 9 months ago, which is 21.6% of my starting weight.

When I started this journey, my BMI was 44.1, which meant that I fell into the “morbidly obese” category. At 5′-3″ and 200.5 lbs, my BMI is now at 35.5, which means I’m just “obese” now without the “morbidly”.

My measurements as of today are as follows:

Waist: 44 1/4″ (3″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 5 1/4″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)
Chest: 45 1/2 (3″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 8 1/2″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)
Hips: 49″ (3 3/4″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 5″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)
Thigh: 23 1/2″ (1 3/4″ smaller than it was on 1/25/10 and 3″ smaller than it was on 7/27/07.)

So, OVERALL, I’ve lost 5 1/4″ in my waist, 8 1/2″ in my chest, 5″” in my hips, and 3″ in my thigh.

So that’s where I am in the numbers. Now let’s see where I am in pictures.

WHERE I’M GOING:

One of my good friends, Steve, recently wrote about his struggle and his PLAN to overcome it. His posts on that really inspired me to regain my footing and part of that process is to instill some new goals (and maybe resurrect some new ones).

That’s the one thing this journey has made me — very goal oriented. I LOVED being part of the various challenges that have been out there, especially the ones that required a weekly check-in on our goals. I attribute a lot of the success I’ve had to those challenges! It’s been months though, since I’ve last been a part of one…and although I said I was going to continue weekly goal tracking anyway, I didn’t. That changes now.

NEW WEEKLY GOALS:

• Run at least 10 miles this week.

Many of you know that my goal for the year is to run/walk/jog 500 miles. So far, I’m at 179.8 miles logged. I’ve fallen behind. I’m still confident that I’ll reach my goal, especially as my miles increase in my half-marathon training, but I need to at least get 10 in per week to stay on track.

• Ride my bike at least once this week.

You may recall that I was actually scared to ride one for a long time, but finally did several months back. I really don’t enjoy bike riding, but that may be just because I never do it and haven’t given it a chance to grow on me.

• Not drink ANY soda.

So far, it’s been 277 days since I last had a drink of soda and I’d like to make it a year.

• Eat breakfast everyday.

I’ve struggled with this since the beginning, but there is a clear difference in my energy levels on the days I have breakfast and the days I don’t. I perform better with it!

• Go to bed by 11:00 on work nights, and by 8:00 PM on Friday nights.

I meet with Caleb’s Crusade at 5:30 on Saturday mornings, so that’s why I need to be in bed so early on Fridays.

• Do one exercise class this week (Yoga, kickboxing, bootcamp, etc)

I was doing SO well when I was attending the kickboxing class every week, so I’d like to start going again. I’m really looking forward to incorporating this back into my routine.

• Keep my training log updated.

I need to keep up with this, even on the days I can’t get online…so I have a paper journal that I will use for those times.

• Do 5 days of training per Caleb’s Crusade schedule.

Well, I obviously couldn’t discuss my goals and the future of my journey without talking about Caleb’s Crusade! They are the group that I am running the Disney Half-Marathon in January with/for and what an amazing group of people! I feel so blessed to have met them. My training consists of 2 days of running through the week (usually Monday and Wednesday) and 2 days of cross training through the week (usually Tuesday and Thursday) and then our “long run” on Saturdays with the group. For my cross training, I want to ride my bike one of the days, and then whatever class I join (see above) will be my second day of cross.

For our long run this week (tomorrow) we are on schedule to run 5.5 miles. The longest I have ran thus far without stopping to walk is 4.5 miles, so we will see how I do. I’m not going to over-push myself, but I really would like to see if I can run the whole way. I am also planning on getting my new running shoes tomorrow that I won! I wish I could have gotten them already so that I could wear them for tomorrow’s run, but my schedule just didn’t allow for it.

So that’s it. Those are my new weekly goals, some of which may look familiar to you. I’ll check in every Friday** with an update. Speaking of goals, I’ve updated my goals pages here and here if you want to take a look.

**You may recall from my last post that I don’t have internet at home right now. This was a hard decision for us to make as a family, but it was necessary. So, for the next few months, my internet access will be limited to my lunch hour at work or whenever I can go to the library or use a friend’s computer. When I can get on, I’m going to try to keep my blog updated as much as I can…if nothing else, I’ll at least post my weekly weigh-ins (Mondays) and weekly goal updates (Fridays). I need to do that for me. For my journey. The worst part about this is that I won’t be as connected to you all as I once was. I have really thrived on the accountability and encouragement I get from you guys and am not sure how successful I can be without it. Obviously, I won’t be able to read your blogs and comment like I used to. However, I can encourage you on facebook or through email (both of which I can access on my phone). So I’d love for you to add me on facebook or email me (josiephelps @ inbox .com) if you want to stay connected that way. ♥

I warned you this was going to be a long post! Congrats if you read the whole thing…hehe.

179.8 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
49.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(6) 5Ks finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Today marks SIX months since I embarked on this journey! A lot has happened in the past six months that has drastically changed my life – in such a positive way. I’ll likely always be a work in progress, but I’m very proud of how far I’ve come in the last six months.

Let’s recap, shall we?

• One of my biggest successes so far is giving up Pepsi. Day 2 was the hardest, but it gets easier each day. I still have dreams that I slip up and drink it though.
• I joined a gym. You can read about my first workout in this post from day 5. Basically, I walked a little more than a mile at 1.5 mph and my face got THIS red from it:

  

• I unofficially joined Steve’s Hot 100 Challenge which helped me stay on track through the end of 2009.
• I started going on walks with my family…a first!
• I had my first Turkey burger!
• I joined Daily Mile and started tracking my workouts there.
• I tried grilled Tilapia and liked it!
• I reconnected with a dear friend from high school and come to find out, she and I were on similar paths to healthiness! She has since started blogging herself.
• My husband got laid off. Not weight related, but definitely affected my mental state and the type of food I could eat for a while.
• I fell and seriously injured my arm…was diagnosed a few days later with a torn bicep. This seriously affected my workouts for several weeks, but I did not give up.
• I planned a healthy menu for Thanksgiving and when my mashed cauliflower didn’t turn out, I didn’t use that as an excuse to gorge on mashed potatoes. I went to plan B instead. It was my first Thanksgiving ever where I had proper portions and all healthy choices!
• I signed up and walked in the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5k...my first ever.
• We celebrated our wedding anniversary in a different way this past year…we brought Olive Garden to us!
• I started C25K and made it through Week 3! (It just took me four months to do it
• I set a goal for myself to walk/jog/run 500 miles for the year 2010!
• I got new sneakers which were MUCH needed.
• I joined the 9-1-1 Fitness Challenge with Lynne and a few others. My final weigh-in for this challenge is on Thursday and I’m hoping to win something!
• I joined Steve’s Perfect 10 Challenge which was the perfect follow up to his Hot 100.
• I started to run! and LIKED it!
• I joined a weekly kickboxing class!
• I tried Zumba, but hated it. LOL
• I conquered my fear and rode my bike.
• I participated in (3) 5Ks so far this year; the Calusa Bug Chase, the Walk for Wishes, and the Hope, Love, and Faith 5k.
• I decided to reward myself!
• I said goodbye to my dear Uncle Larry.
• I’ve learned that this journey isn’t just physical…
• I had a Workout Pledge on my blog and you all helped me get a killer workout in!
• I started eating the Weight Watchers plan
• Michelle, the gym owner, offered to train with me each morning! What a blessing.
• I started C25K again.
• I had my first workout puke!
• I completed a mile in just over 13 minutes!

Last but not least? I’ve met the most amazing people ever! Yes, I mean YOU.

Sorry that was so long. It’s good to look back and realize how far we’ve come…it helps put things into perspective, y’know?

Now for today’s Weigh-in Results:

I weighed in this morning at 208.0 lbs which is a .9 lb loss for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 48 pounds. In the last six months, I have lost 18% of my weight and my BMI has gone from 44.1 to 36.8.

I want to state my appreciation to all of you for being there for me through the past six months…without your accountability and encouragement I doubt I would have stuck with it, so THANK YOU and here’s to the next six months!

Here’s something I never thought I’d do…but here goes:

How’s that for exposing myself?

115.5 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
40.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Wanna hear some BIG news? You all know how my goal is to participate in (12) 5k races and hopefully run a full one by year’s end? Well, I recently received an email from the Gulf Coast Runners detailing an event called 10K Run for Music. This event immediately caught my attention because of the music factor. They will have orchestra members from the Naples Philharmonic playing music along the entire route! I can’t describe to you how cool that is to me! Another reason it intrigued me is that Hal Higdon will not only be running in this race himself, but he will also be doing a meet and greet and signing his book, Marathon, a Novel. How cool is that??

Here’s the thing though – it’s TEN KILOMETERS. Ack. I really wanted to do this race, but I had all sorts of self doubts kick in. I even emailed someone at GC Runners and asked if there was a time limit to finish the race – the last thing I want is to get kicked off the route. He told me that he thought there was a two hour limit and encouraged me to go for it. Well, you might remember that I finished 6 miles in an hour and 45 minutes a couple weeks ago, so I was feeling better about it, but still not convinced I could do it.

Then my friend Lynne and I were talking one day and she was telling me how she really wanted to sign up for this Triathlon, but was scared to and I was scared to sign up for the 10K. She pulled one of those “I will if you will” and that was all it took. So, she signed up for the Tri and I signed up for my first ever 10k race (and a super cool one at that)!

Now it’s time for my weekly goals update:

• Eat breakfast every day this week

Success. This was a tough one to adjust to, but it’s getting easier each day.

• Stay under 25 WW points per day this week

Success. I’m actually finding this pretty easy…most days I have a hard time eating that much.

• Go to gym before work every day this week (M-F)

Not quite a success, but I have a hard time calling this a failure too. My new trainer worked me so hard on Monday, that I was too sore to go Tuesday morning, but I did go Tuesday night. Then I went in the AM on Wednesday, but was so sore that I didn’t go Thursday morning. I think I set this goal too strict and I was fooling myself thinking that I could handle 5 of *those* workouts in a row like that.

• No Soda!

Success. It gets easier each day.

• Walk/Run/Jog 10 miles for the week

Close…9.25 miles.

• Work on C25K Program at least 3 days this week

Success. And for the record, it was much easier to accomplish this my second time around. I think it took me two months to get through Week 1 on my first try! LOL

• Ride 5 miles on bike or exercise bike 5 days this week

I missed one day, I biked 20 miles this week instead of my planned 25.

113 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
40.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

How’s that for a title? This is gonna be one jumbled post of randomness.

GIVEAWAY
First things first, my friend Kat is having a giveaway on her blog for Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil…Check it out…you have until March 29th to enter.

C25K
She has also decided to start the C25K training program with Kim, Kelly, Craig, and Erin. I’m going to join them as well. As you know I’ve been working my way through the C25K for the past four months. That’s how long it took me to just get through Week 3! I think going back and starting from Day 1 will be good for me because I can work on my endurance and speed to better prepare me for weeks 4 and beyond. I’ve made a lot of progress since I first started to run in my workouts, but I still have a long way to go. My next running goal that I want to reach is to run a full mile without having to stop. (Right now, I can do about a half mile before having to stop.) After that, I want to be able to run a full 5K hopefully in time for this year’s Turkey Trot. Last year’s Turkey Trot was my first 5K ever and I told myself then that I wanted to run it this year.

BLOG STUFF
You may have noticed that I changed the layout of my blog. This has been something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. My previous theme had so many limitations and apparently, some security holes. I came to post a blog the other day and my site wouldn’t load, rather it was redirecting to a host provider that I had never heard of before and the page just said “Site Unavailable”. This happened once before a month or so ago and when I called my host to find out why, they didn’t know and while they were trying to figure it out my site just magically started loading right again. I was pissed off then because I didn’t understand how another host could have access to my site to have it redirect to theirs. So when it happened again last week, I wasn’t getting off the phone with my host until I had some concrete answers. Well, I may not have liked the answer, but at least I got one…my site was hacked and whoever did it added some type of code to redirect my site to theirs. Weird. So, for the past couple of days I’ve been restoring everything and making some changes to make the site more secure. I also (obviously) changed my theme. I had bought Thesis a couple of months ago, but just never got around to playing with it until now. Let me know if something doesn’t work right or if there are any broken links or anything like that. Also, I changed the way my site accepts comments and added an extra spam filter, so if your comment doesn’t appear please let me know. At any rate, it’s nice to finally have things like threaded comments. I’m still playing around with it – wow the options are endless – but so far, I’m loving Thesis.

PERFECT 10
It felt really weird yesterday not doing a Perfect 10 post. I don’t know why, but having those weekly goals really helped keep me on track (Thanks Steve!). So, I’m going to keep tracking my weekly goals even though the challenge is over. After my talk with Michelle (my gym owner) on Wednesday, my goals are going to be a little different than they have been:

• Eat breakfast every day this week
• Stay under 25 WW points per day this week
• Go to gym before work every day this week (M-F)
• No Soda!
• Walk/Run/Jog 10 miles for the week
• Work on C25K Program at least 3 days this week
• Ride 5 miles on bike or exercise bike this week

I know today is Saturday, but I’ll keep tracking these on Fridays just like I did for the Perfect 10. I don’t know what I’ll call it, maybe the Imperfect 10 like Pippa is?

104.5 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
23.5 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

This Wednesday (March 17th), I have the day off so I’m making it GYM day – “Biggest Loser last chance workout” style…but here’s the catch, the workouts I do will be chosen by YOU! This is called a Workout Pledge and I got the idea from Tyler over at 344 Pounds. They seem like a great way to get in a killer workout, which is exactly what I want to accomplish on Wednesday.

Here is the list of exercises you can choose from:

1. 30 seconds running (4.5 mph)
2. 1 minute walking (3.5 mph)
3. 1 minute elliptical (level 1)
4. 20 crunches
5. 20 squats
6. 5 reps on weight machine
7. 3 minutes exercise bike (level 1)
8. 3 minutes stairmaster

Here’s how it will work. Between now and Tuesday at 10:00 PM (EST), you can do any or all seven of the following:

Comment: Post a comment right here on this post. You don’t have to say a lot, any ole comment will do, just be sure to let me know which number exercise you want me to do for that comment.

Twitter: Click here to follow me on Twitter; come back here and leave me a comment letting me know that you did (and also let me know which number exercise you want me to do for it)

Facebook: Click here to follow my facebook page; come back here and leave me a comment letting me know that you did (and also let me know which number exercise you want me to do for it).

Link Love: Add this link to my blog onto your blogroll; come back here and leave me a comment letting me know that you did (and also let me know which number exercise you want me to do for it).

Tell your Friends: Post a blurb on Twitter encouraging your followers to come add to my workout and come back here and comment letting me know you did (and also let me know which number exercise you want me to do for it).

You can make up your own, or something like this will do:

@josielphelps is doing a workout pledge on her blog and you can add to her workout just by leaving a comment! Check it out: http://bit.ly/aMxsnd

Tell your readers: Post a blurb on your blog letting your readers know about the pledge and then come back here and let me know you did (and also let me know which number exercise you want me to do for it).

Dailymile: Click here to add me as a friend on DailyMile and then comment here letting me know that you did (and also let me know which number exercise you want me to do for it).

So there are seven ways you can add to my workout! Don’t forget to specify which exercise you want me to do.

So that’s it. I’ll be tallying everything by the comments, so be sure to comment here if you add me on facebook or twitter or link to your blog so that I know you did.

Oh, and if you’re already following my facebook or twitter or dailymile, comment letting me know and that will count as an entry too.

Don’t forget to say which exercise you want me to do (by number). Sorry for being so redundant!

Thank you all so much. I am really excited about this and can’t wait to see what you have in store for me! You have until Tuesday night, but what are you waiting for??

101.0 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
14.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Image by Pippa!

Today marks the 100th day of the year, and as such the Perfect 10 challenge has come to an end. Here is my final Perfect 10 Update:

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

You might recall that as of last Friday I was 26.5 miles away from reaching goal – just over marathon distance. Well, in the last 7 days I walked and/or jogged 25.11 miles. This brings my total for the year to 98.61 miles. So, I didn’t quite make the 100 I was shooting for, but man I came awful close…and I’m SUPER proud of myself for last night’s 6 mile escapade (and shall do a repeat of it soon). The lesson I learned this week? That I needed to step up my workouts more. I was sore today from last night’s workout and if I’m being honest, it’s the first time in weeks that I’ve been sore the next day. So it was a GOOD thing…and I realized that I need to change my routine, push myself more, and sweat more if I want to make progress here.

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

I am now through with Week 3 and will be starting Week 4 tomorrow. Major success here!

• 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 165 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 and the Hope, Love, and Faith 5K for MS. SUCCESS!

• Start a garden.

Bah! I’m not sure why I kept procrastinating on this, but I still plan to start one.

• 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.

SUCCESS!

• 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.

Not so much a success here. I started off good, but just got real behind.

The other part of this challenge is to post something that others may not know about me. As you could imagine with me being from Florida and I also lived in North Carolina for 5 years, that I’m quite familiar with hurricanes. I’ve been through some of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit, including Andrew (92), Floyd (99), and Charley (04).

For hurricane Floyd, I was pregnant and about three weeks overdue. They had me scheduled to be induced a few days prior to Floyd hitting, but the hospital had to cancel me so they could save their beds “just in case” they needed them. They told me I’d have to go into labor naturally. The night Floyd came was one of the scariest of my life. I was at my sister’s house and we were all up sitting in the hallway, hoping for the best. It was a category 4 storm. All of a sudden we looked out the window and saw a tree falling, but not just any tree. THIS tree:

Yes, that’s our HOUSE behind it…That’s a hughjass tree, huh??? Yeah, I was skeered after we saw that fall. Remember, I could have gone into labor at any moment and would have had no way out. What you can’t see in that picture was that the tree actually fell on all of our vehicles! We had them all parked in the yard and the tree fell perfectly on all four of them:

Thank God we were all OK, but wow. The guys spent all the next day chainsawing their way through it, so we could at least have a vehicle in case I went into labor.

We also had a tree fall during hurricane Charley in 04, but at least I wasn’t pregnant then

Obviously Charley didn’t heed our signs…BOO! This is what that same area looked like the next day:

We were left without power for weeks, in the dead heat of Florida summer. It was brutal, but it could have been so much worse.

So there’s something you didn’t know about me, but probably could have guessed! LOL

Thanks Steve, for such an AWESOME challenge!

98.61 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
14.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

I weighed in this morning at 212.6 lbs which is a .4 lb loss for the week. This brings my total weight loss so far to 43.4 pounds.

Nothing to write home about, eh? I’m still trending downwards, though, which is awesomely awesome. I’ll take a .4 loss over a gain any day!

It’s time for my first Weekend Warrior update. Thanks to Brandon for hosting this challenge!

Anyway, here are the three goals I set for myself this weekend and how I fared on each:

1. Work out Friday night for at least 30 minutes.

I did not do this. My mom got out of the hospital Friday, so after work we ate dinner and then immediately went to her house to visit and didn’t get home till late. I know that’s no excuse, I still could have done SOMEthing once I got home, but I didn’t. So I told myself I’d make up for it on Sunday. Which I didn’t do either.

2. Map out and walk/run 3 miles on Sunday.

Success. Felt good too!

3. Limit myself to 1 glass of tea each day.

Success. I actually only had one glass all weekend long. It’s a good thing not feeling weighed down by all that sugar.

I really want to thank Brandon for starting this challenge. It’s such a GREAT idea. I never really acknowledged the fact that weekends were my weakness prior to this. It’s also pretty dang cool reading the blogs of my fellow warriors, some of which I’d never been to before. I love meeting new people!

Another thing…As of Friday I was 26.5 miles (more than a marathon) away from reaching my Perfect 10 goal of 100. Since I got another 7.1 miles in this weekend, that leaves me with 19.4 miles left to do before Friday. (eek!) Even though this goal seemed so far out of reach, I said I was going to try and I meant it.

Lori had a good idea in my comments. She said:

For the walking, maybe tack on an extra 1.5 mile walk at the opposite end of the day where you do your usual one to get those miles in without getting too tired (or burnt out).

So here’s my plan:

Tonight: 3 miles
Tuesday morning: 3 miles
Tuesday Evening: 1.5 miles
Wednesday Morning: 3 miles
Wednesday Evening: 1.5 miles
Thursday Morning: 3 miles
Thursday Evening: 1.5 miles
Friday morning: 3 miles

for a total of 20.5 miles; just over my goal. Thanks Lori for the suggestion! Now I just have to stick to it. This is far more than I do on an average week, so wish me luck!

Edited to add: Check out this great giveaway over at Stellar Path, where you can win Jillian’s 30 Day Shred! I’ve read so many great things about this program; it’d be super cool to win it.

80.6 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
13.9 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
(3) 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)

Image by Pippa!

Time again for another Perfect 10 Update. Only one more week left people! 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 6.65 miles this week bringing my total for the year to 73.5 miles.

I need to walk 26.5 miles (a little more than a marathon!) over the next week in order to reach my goal of 100 miles. I think the most I’ve ever done in one week was 15 or 16, so I’m not so sure I can reach this, BUT I’M GOING TO TRY. I was doing so good on this, but got behind in the last couple weeks.

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

I made progress and am now up to Week 3, Day 1. I upped my pace too this week, doing my fastest mile yet: 13:39.

• 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 158 days since I’ve had ANY soda. (Though I am STILL dreaming about it)

• 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 am signed up for the Hope, Love, and Faith 5K for MS which is tomorrow morning…So by tomorrow afternoon I’ll be able to say that I successfully achieved this goal!

• Start a garden.

I still haven’t started yet, but I do have a plan!
I wanted to get this going last weekend, but just didn’t. I am *hoping* to at least get all my materials this Sunday.

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

5 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 twice this week.

• 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 in JROTC for all four years of high school and for the longest time my goal was to be a Pilot for either the US Air Force or the Navy. As much teasing as I endured for being in ROTC in highschool, it taught me SO many valuable traits that I carry with me to this day. I never did join the military, but came very close. I had the opportunity to take a scholarship for college through ROTC and would have gone to OCS to become an officer. In full disclosure, I should mention that I’ve become quite a pacifist the older I’ve gotten. Please don’t misconstrue that to mean that I am against our troops because that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I have nothing but respect for the men and women who serve our country in such an honorable way…and yes, even though I consider myself a pacifist, I also think serving in the military is honorable. I’m weird, I know! Me being a ‘pacifist’ just means that the Josie today wouldn’t even consider joining the military, yet that was the primary goal of the Josie 20 years ago and the idea of being a soldier pretty much consumed me back then. I still want to get my pilot’s license, though…that hasn’t changed.

Me, circa 1990:

73.5 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’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)