365 Grateful: Day 81 3/22/2014

I'm grateful for such thoughtful cards and gifts celebrating our anniversary and favorite day of the year.

Read more...

365 Grateful: Day 78 3/19/2014

I'm grateful for leftover cupcakes.

Read more...

365 Grateful: Day 76 3/17/2014

I'm grateful to be surrounded by so much love and so many people who are up for celebrating my favorite day of the year. And for eight years with my OTL.

Read more...

That's What I'm Talking About

So I stepped on the scale today and discovered that I lost 3.8 lbs. Fantastic and encouraging. I worked hard this week and figured out some new ways that I know I need to live my day to day life, especially when it comes to food, nutrition, health and exercise.

I started out my day weighing myself and then knew from there I would write up my food plans for the week. Knowing that I lost was really helpful because it showed that what I did last week was working. So I sat down and wrote out my weekly food plan and then wrote down a list of challenges. They are:

1. Meghan & Rob visiting.
2. Limiting eating out.
3. Not drinking too much.
4. More exercise.

When you have visitors in town, it's almost a given that you'll eat out more. And as I learned this week, I absolutely must cut back (almost completely) the meals I eat out. I just have to, it's not good for me and trying to lose weight. So they arrive late Thursday night, which means in this week there's Friday & Saturday where I need to be careful. It's certainly not a challenge that I can't overcome, but one I do need to be aware of.

My sisters and I love to drink and have fun together. But the point of Meghan's visit really is to spend St. Patrick's Day with one another- it's like our Christmas, but better! So I have to keep that in mind and save my drinking for 3/17. I can do it.

And then finally, this week I only worked out twice. I'm not going to lie, the running has been a bit of a struggle for me. Getting back into it has been difficult. I ran a mile yesterday and it literally hurt towards the end- not my body, not my shins, nothing like that- just my breathing. It was hard. But I powered on after a very brief walking break and even did a set of the famous Santa Monica stairs.

First I went down the concrete ones- I think these are harder then the wooden set. Their closer together and obviously since they're made out of concrete, they don't "give" as much.



I walked to the next set of stairs, and continued up this set. I think these are easier.



They are easier, but the workout is still a bitch. It's just hard.

But of course, it felt really great afterwards.

So I am confident that if I pick up the workouts and continue to eat the way I did last week, I will see great results.

It's been a while since I've felt motivated and excited, but I am feeling just that. And I'm going with it.

Read more...