Advocare Cleanse results. . .

I love love love doing the Advocare 10 day herbal cleanse. 

It consists of a program of clean eating.  In the morning you take a probiotic 30 mins before breakfast.  You drink a fiber supplement with breakfast and then in the evening when you go to bed you take the herbal cleanse capsules.  The eating program is really easy actually.  You just eat clean.  And honestly I eat often and I'm satisfied.  I struggle with a really strong sweet tooth so the first few days can be rough.  It can also be rough to be around sweets or foods I can't eat during the cleanse.  But it's 10 days and I'm here to tell you that *you* can do anything for 10 days.  It resets me, detoxes me from sugar and sets me up to maintain a good eating program following the 10 days.  The eating has become habit and because I feel so good I maintain it.  I have more energy and I sleep better when I eat like this.   

Anyways, here are the results.  I'm down 7.8 lbs, which is pretty typical of what I lose during the cleanse.  I lost 1 inch *each* on my bust, waist and hips for a total of 3 inches overall there.  I also lost 1/2 inch on each thigh.  Do you count both of those and end up with a total of 4?  Or do you only count on thigh for 3.5 inches? I have no idea!   

You can see my daily weights above.  It takes a while to see a difference in fat % and I'm not sure how accurate those hand held monitors are, but I lost 0.5% of body fat.  Normally I would only take that measurement every month or so because I feel like too many factors, like hydration, come into play and it's hard to get a consistent reading.  

I'm really pleased with these results.  I still want to see 176, but I feel like I got control of the scale creep.  I just hope that I can maintain it for some time right now and continue to lose.  I do the cleanse about every 90 days or so.  When I have 10 days with no real social commitments that will sabotage me.  Advocare says not to do it more often than every 90 days.  So I do it 3-4 times a year. 

Other than that life has been way too filled with drama that has been stressing me out but right now I'm not comfortable talking about it.  Unfortunately I find the position my life is in right now to be rather embarrassing and uncomfortable.  I woke up Tuesday morning thinking that life was a dream.  Then I realized it wasn't.  I sometimes wonder how I got here.  But in anycase, I'm trying to distract myself and plan a hot date with my 5 year old nephew this weekend.  We want to take him to see Pete's Dragon.  Has anyone seen it? 

Cleaning it up!

On Monday I started the Advocare Herbal Cleanse.  I do this 3-4 times a year.  They recommend not more often than every 90 days.  I love the cleanse!  It gets me back on track.  I eat a lot of food.  But it's clean.  No cookies, pretzels, cupcakes. . .  And I was becoming a sugar monster!

The amount of *crap* I was stuffing in my mouth was shocking.  I'd eat just because honestly.  The stress doesn't help.  Once I clean up my food choices, I feel so much better!  Less fluffy - goodbye bloat!  I have more energy and I sleep much better.   I might be less moody too, but that's hard to judge cause my stress level impacts that quite a bit.  

After 4 days of eating clean, I'm down 5.6 lbs!!!   Today is day 5, so almost half way there. 
(read the weights from the bottom up!)

I had let my weight creep up too high for comfort.   My goal has always been to see 176 and I never quite make it.  I get to 178 and start going back up.  I'd like to finish the cleanse in the 170's . . . even 179.8 (my scale only weighs in even increments. .  179.9 isn't possible) would be ok!  It would be a big boost to motivate me to keep my eating clean.  Right now I'm rocking and rolling.  I'm determined the weekend will be no different than this week.  I like routine in my eating, so if I can maintain this routine and eat the snacks when I normally do I will be golden. . . I hope!

This week Advocare released a new spark flavor. . . .

I've had two so far and it's yummy.  The flavor isn't as strong as I'd hoped.  I like the strong flavors so I can add more water. . . but it's still really good.  It will be high up on my list of favorites. 

Have a great weekend!  

Little weight check in. . .

I've been so busy that I haven't posted much about my weight. I'm sad to say that I'm not in the 170's.

I was 181 the morning I left for Rolex.   But at one point last week and this week I was in the 185's.  No clue what happened, but I wasn't eating the best that's for sure.  I got sick with a 24 hour stomach bug this week and that dropped my weight and I've been able to keep it down for the 2 days since I've felt better.  Hopefully it lasts.  I'm not terribly worried, but I do really really want to see 176. Just once dammit! :)

I've been running about 3-4 days a week.  The break while I was in KY was both good and bad.  It made it hard to get back in the groove and I was hating running for a few days.  

I shared this photo on Facebook earlier this week to keep myself motivated. . .

The left is 2010, middle is 2012 and right is this year, 2016.   I was quite large in 2010 and that may be one of the only full body shots I have at that size.  My max weight was 250, so it's possible I was a bit less there, but not much.  I remember those pants like it was yesterday.  And those freaking pants were sooooo soft and comfortable. I was almost sad to shrink out of them.  They were Old Navy and I was unable to get a replacement pair.  I think the jeans in the other two photos are the same pair, even thought hey don't really look it.  There isn't a huge difference in the two photos on the right.  Not even in scale numbers and clothing size, but in between those years I went back up in all numbers.  I remember when those jeans didn't fit.  I believe it was last year, 2015, when I wore them again at Rolex and I was so happy.  I think I look happier and healthier in this year's photo.  Why?  The 2012 photo was after doing HCG.  I don't regret doing that.  But I don't think I'd do it again and I don't think it was the healthiest choice.  I think I was tired and certainly didn't feel as good as I do now.  So that's the difference I see when looking at those photos.

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In other news. . .  I was at Macy's last month and I saw a purse that caught my eye.  I took a photo of it but I didn't buy it.  I stalked it online and when I got back from KY, I saw the price dropped so I got it.

I'm usually a solid color purse girl, but for some reason I fell for this.  And I love the striped interior. 

And yesterday I got a package in the mail. . . . a total surprise gift.  . . . 

That's a Dooney and Burke cross body Cardinals purse!   How cute is that?  I've noticed them but never spent the $ on one.   I was really really surprised to receive this in the mail!  I might have got teary eyed. 

I have a busy weekend coming up, including a graduation party.  I'm pretty anti-social right now. I'd like to just stay home and do nothing.  I haven't been able to do that in some time and I need that kind of break to be honest.  Have a great weekend peeps! 

I had a goal. . .

I'm so freaking excited today!!!   When I started the Advocare Herbal Cleanse on April 9th, I set a goal. . . that goal was to see the 170's on the scale before I leave for KY on April 27th (this coming Wednesday).  

179.8 (my scale only does even numbers behind the decimal) would be fine.  I didn't care.  I just wanted to see 170's.  My long term goal was to see 176 as that would be 35 lbs lost since I started Advocare.  I would have reached that in August if I hadn't got sick.  Life since then has been rough and the weight crept on.  I wanted to hit 176 and reassess where I wanted to go and how I wanted to get there. 

So I started the cleanse at 188.2.  Yesterday was tough day and I didn't eat dinner. I wasn't even all that hungry so I guess it didn't matter.  I never skip meals, but it happened.  I didn't get home till close to 9pm and I wasn't feeling up to making something.  

This morning I got on the scale not knowing that to expect.  I could have easily gained.  The body is funny like that.  Not eating isn't necessarily a "good" thing where the body is concerned. 

But I saw this on the scale. . . 

GOAL!!!!!    I'm stunned.  I'm shocked.  I got on that dang scale probably 4 times.  It said the *exact* same thing each time.  (Maybe one day I'll set the date on that thing huh?).   That's a loss of 2.6 lbs from yesterday.  So I'm not sure that this will remain and I could blow up tomorrow.  But I saw it.  I saw the 170's!!!!   Whoop whoop!!!!   It feels good.  Now I'd like to hold that and actually be in the 170's on Wednesday morning when I leave.  I hope I can, but I also know that I have a few things coming up that might make it challenging.  If in fact this is a bit of a fluke then it will certainly be a challenge.  If it's not, then there might be hope.  It's funny how I can gain 2-3 lbs overnight and it can take days to get it off.  It's very very rare that I drop more than 1 lb in one day.  But boy does it feel good!!!   

Happy weeekend everyone!

10 day cleanse results!

I haven't been posting because I've been waiting for my cleanse to be over.

On Sat April 9th, the hubs and I started the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse.  You can do this as part of the 24 Day Challenge or you can do it solo.  As you know in Jan we did do the full challenge.  The recommendation is to cleanse every 90 days.  Some people do the challenge every 90 days.  We have been eating pretty much like you do on the 24 day challenge 90% of the time, so we just did the cleanse.    I'm going out of town next week and we found 10 days where we didn't have any events.

The consists of 10 days of clean eating.  You *eat*.  You don't starve yourself.  You eat three meals a day and 2-3 snacks.  It's all clean, avoiding things like dairy, sugar, alcohol, condiments, bad carbs. . . we eat very little carbs.  You can have whole grain breads, but we don't. I know for myself that I will have better success if I don't.  But I do eat grain like quinoa every day.  Since I run, I really need the carbs to keep that energy level up.  I eat three snacks as I have that extra/optional one after dinner, before bed.  That's my snacky time and I just can't give that one up.  But snacks are clean: fruits and nuts.  That kind of thing.

My start weight was 188.2.
My hubs start weight was 207.8

My final weight this morning was 182.6.  That's a loss of 5.6 lbs.  I'm happy with that.  I wanted more, but I did the best I could and this is what my body gave me.  I lost half inch off of: hips, waist and both thighs, for a total of 2 inches lost.  I really want to see the 170's soon so I'm going to keep up with the clean eating and see if I can get there before I go to KY next week. 

My hubs however ended up in ONDERLAND!!  His final was 199.8.  I don't think he's been in the 100's in his adult life.  He was much larger before I met him and lost weight prior to meeting me in 2006.  But I know that he has always been in the 200's the whole time we've been together.  He's pretty excited!  He also lost a total of 2 inches: 1 from both the chest and hips.  He's kind of shrinking before my eyes.  I think he's loving it.  He was resistant to any kind of "cleanse" or limiting food groups/eating before.  But he's loving the reaction he's getting from people and I know he feels better.

The thing I love the most about the cleanse and clean eating in general is that my weight is more stable.  I don't have wild fluctuations of going up a few pounds in *one* day.  Here's my daily weight since the start of the cleanse (from the bottom up!)

You will notice that my fat % went up.   But gosh darn, those monitors are something else.  Any change in hydration can affect it.  It seems to take much more than 10 days to see results.  So I'm not too worried about that.   I've been stuck since Saturday morning at the exact *same* weight.  That's becoming a bummer.  And even more of a bummer is that it's my TOM starting today.  So I suspect I will fly up 3 lbs in a day or two from that bloat.  That's one thing clean eating can't control.  The bloat from Aunt Flo!  Ha!  

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I thought since I haven't posted in a while, that I'd share some images from this weekend.

First - my horse, Eli is lame.  I don't know what he did and I don't know if it's related to his neck arthritis.  But there's no riding right now and I don't know when I'll call the vet yet.  I leave town next Wed so I may address it when I get back, unless it gets worse.  This is a sad face selfie.  I was excited to try a horse selfie with my new phone because the front camera is wide angle.  It's much easier to fit a horse head in the photo!

On Saturday I took my nephew to his baseball practice.  His Dad was working and his sister was sick, so his Mom couldn't take him.  I love that boy! He's so funny and so well behaved. 

He's a true farm boy and he loves working with his dad in the field (his dad does field work for someone when not working his *real* job @ John Deere).  So on the way home from baseball practice we stopped to check on my husband in the field.  Have I mentioned on here that my husband farms?  Probably not, cause in reality farming sucks and it sucks all your money down the drain. 

Sunday morning, before my husband went to the field, we went for a run. Whew - he's just too fast for me.  I really have to up my speed to run with him.  I know it's good for me, but as summer comes and the temperatures go up, it's getting harder.  I hate hot weather running.  But I sure am proud of myself when I'm done and see that speedy pace! :)

On Sunday, my nephew was at my Mom's house and she sent me this photo.  She said he noticed the tractor a mile away and starting getting excited that it was my hubby.  I thought this photo was about the sweetest thing I've seen in a while. 

Hope all is well with everyone that reads this!  Post a comment once and while and say hi! :)

Advocare 24 Day Challenge: Phase 1 results

Today is day 11 and the first day of the 14 day phase 2.  They call this the max phase.   You are no longer cleansing your body, but you are giving it proper nutrition and vitamins.  You take quite a few pills in the MNS system.   I don't love that, but I do love results. . . .

So what were my results from Phase 1?

-6.6 lbs and -3.5 inches overall!!!

My inches broke down to:
           Chest: -1
           Waist: -1
           Hips: -1
           Thigh: -0.5

I'd rather have kept the chest and lost more hips, but such is life.

I didn't get a photo of my fat % monitor on Day 1.  (Running late for work as usual)  But I was at 32.8 %.  I didn't write down the BMI but I imagine it's the same. Oh and that's a high BMI - the freaking bar flashes so I forgot about that and the pic snapped at the wrong time.  I wish I was normal BMI, but I'm not.

Yesterday was a bit challenging.  We regularly have pizza day at work.  We had a few inches of snow and we had severe server issues at work - causing many people to twiddle their thumbs.  The boss declared it a pizza day.  Ugh.  They set up the tables in the hallway just outside my room.  The smells. . . oh my the smells!  But I was mentally strong and I resisted.  I wasn't about to mess up.  I am pretty strong on the challenge cause I believe anyone can do anything for 24 days.  But the day before I'm going to take phase 1 results?? That means I'm even stronger.  I resisted.  It's all about choices and eating for your goals.

But man. . . that's a lot of pizza and therefore a lot of pizza smell to resist. . . .  I did it!  SUCCESS.  Eat for your goals!  Eat to live, don't live to eat.

I can't wait to have final results in 14 days.  My weight has been holding for several days now - even creeping up 0.2 lbs today.  So . . . I think my body is resisting.  Which means I have to be strong and strict with my food choices.  I think I need to cut back on the fruit a little bit. It's my saving grace and replaces my sweets.  So a few less handfuls of grapes are in order.

Thanks for reading!

Confession: I'm a scale junkie

OMG!  I get on the scale every freaking day.  How horrible!  Judge me now.  

I understand that this doesn't work for everyone.  If we were all the same what a boring world this would be.  

I get the unhealthy aspects of this.  But gosh darn it to heck. . . I'm tired of the harping about *not* getting on the scale every day.  You gotta do what works for you.  I'm on the scale every single flipping morning.  It's what I do.  Do I freak out if I gain weight?  No.  Do I happy dance if I lose?  Yes!  I can eat Chinese food and gain 3 lbs the next day.  I know this.  I'm aware of it.  I move on.  My time of the month can cause a 2 lb gain the first day of that week.  I know this.  I hate it.  Lol! 

I found this article this morning. Holy cow!  Stop the presses!  This actually says it's A-OKAY to get on the scale every day.  Take that you once-a-week-scale-judging peeps!  

"Stepping on the scales should be like brushing your teeth," says David Levitsky, a professor of nutrition and psychology at Cornell University.

Hallelujah!!!!!  That's me - first thing after I pee.  On the scale I go.  

The article also says: "It was possible that cause and effect went the other way —  that good numbers kept people coming back to their scales while disappointing numbers kept them away."

Interesting eh? 

Now keep in mind that the scale doesn't define you. 

And if you let it define you then maybe you do need to break up.  Maybe you should seek therapy.  

But I think there is a healthy way to get on the scale every day.  People say "measure - go by how your clothes fit".  I'm here to tell you that I'm 5'10".  I'm lucky that I carry my weight pretty well.  I've weighed 250 lbs and people were stunned when they heard that.  I thought I looked like 300 lbs.  But whatever.   They didn't see it.  So I can gain 20 lbs and guess what?  My jeans still fit!!!  So I like to stop that crap in it's tracks - before my friendly scale says I gained 20 lbs. 

So my scale is my friend.  We have a morning meeting every morning.  It's ok.  I go on with my day.  You gotta find what works for you.  If you have a once a week relationship then that's great.  I won't judge your relationship, please don't judge mine.  

Advocare 24 Day Challenge . . . Day 1!

Whoop!  Today is day 1 of the Advocare 24 day challenge.   I stuffed my face like every meal was my last meal this weekend.  I blew up.

Holy yikes!  This makes me want to cry.  I undid a lot of hard work the last half of the year.  I used getting sick as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted.  I went through stages of panic and depression during that time and food was comfort.  But I could have got it under control.  I totally could have.  I just didn't.  Then the holidays came and I did ok.  But then New Year's came and I had 11 day till the challenge.  So what I did I do?  I ate everything one last time.  Like I'd never ever be able to have it again.  So I earned that 196.  I know it.  I own it.  I'm moving on.  (the fat % was 32.8% but I forgot to take a photo.  That's up too. . . )

We prepped food this weekend.  I made scrambled eggs for my breakfast every day.  My husband made chicken for my salads.  We made some quinoa and fruit salad.   So it's on!  We got this under control.

That was my breakfast this morning.  I'm drinking my spark right now.  I decided to have mandarin orange to shake things up and it's pretty good.  A bit like tang from the old days, but I was stuck on fruit punch so I needed to change it up.

Last night before we went to sleep. . . the last thing my hubby said was "I can't wait to start our cleanse tomorrow".  Whoop!  He had to come into this in his own time.  He's done the cleanse with me before but I think just to humor me.  I feel like he really *wants* to do it this time.  And this will be his first time doing the full 24 days.  So I'm very excited to see how he does.  I'm super happy that he wants to do this and was looking forward to it as well.

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One last thing . . .

I bought an Amazon Fire Stick over the holiday sales.  Finally set it up this weekend.  My internet doesn't seem to be fully up to snuff with streaming (we live out in the sticks) but it's working well enough.  Last night we watch three episodes of . . . 

Whoa!  Wow.  First of all when practically the first scene is 2 women having sex. .  .and your husband says "what are we watching". . .   ha!  Nah it's all good.  I can't wait to watch more!!!  I can't believe I finally got on the Netflix bandwagon.  I feel so grown up. 

Friday weigh in and the cell phone drama

Well I guess I was consistent this week and maybe the Friday weigh in isn't really helping.  I don't know I just can't seem to buckle down and be clean all the time.  I really want to hang around 181 for a while.  I just gotta buckle down and do it I guess.  But at least I pretty much just stayed the same this week.

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I have been running and following Hal Higdon's training plan for the 15K.  This was a step back week so not too much to report.  So far I've done two 3-mile runs on the treadmill.  I have a 4 mile run this weekend.  Last night's run on the treadmill was one of my best feeling runs since I started running after my illness.  I'd really like  to get my fitness level back and be able to run consistently without any walk breaks.

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There's been some cell phone drama going on.  I have three lines on my Sprint account: me, my husband and my mom.  And we were due for upgrades.  And we could still get a subsidized phone on Sprint and get another 2 year contract.  All phone providers are going to the lease a phone, no contract options.  So we upgraded last Friday and got three Samsung Galaxy S6 phones.  And we hate the battery life.  I adore the freaking phone but despise the battery life.  And so that makes me worry what it will be like in 6 months. . . 12 months. .  the whole second year of owning it?  So we are pondering switching to Verizon just for the Motorola Droid Turbo 2.  It is shatterproof which is amazing.  But I've only own Samsung smartphones.  And I've only ever been with Sprint. So there's some anxiety in switching and I don't know which way I want to go. This is causing arguments with my husband and I.  And tears of stress with me.  Just over a phone.  Honestly though for me, the issue is really that my life is pretty stressful and sucky that the little things are stressing me out more.  What to do?  I have unlimited data on Sprint.  Should I really switch and pay more/same for LIMITED data?!  AH!!!  Any advice is welcome. :) 

Friday weigh in & reflections on a birthday

Monday weigh in's are over rated.  Weighing in right after the weekend is tough cause you gotta be perfect. I'm more apt to be perfect M-F than F-M. :)   So here it is, the first Friday weigh in.  Kind of sucks, but I was off work on Wed and ate out.  Yesterday was my birthday so of course there were sweets.  But no time like the present to be accountable.  So here it is.

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As I said, yesterday was my Birthday.  They are also over rated.  Except for one thing this year - I'm finally no longer 36.  I don't remember if I posted about this here on my blog.  I have long felt like 36 would be a bad year.  My aunt passed away at 36 (leaving behind a 3 and 5 year old).  I have always felt like I took after my aunt in many ways of life.  And I've been afraid of 36.  I turned 36 and time went by and I kind of forgot about it.  Until I got slammed with that crazy undiagnosed illness.  I was scared. Here it was - the 36 year old curse.  I got better though thankfully.  And here I am - 37.

I'm not one to play the "it's my birthday" card, but I wanted to last night.  My husband was an ass.  There's no other way to say it.  His tractor broke down and it will likely be a large repair. I get that it sucks. But don't take it out on me.  But he did.  He was in a pissed off mood.  He tells me his left arm has been bothering him for 2+ weeks - he can't feel it.  What does that mean?  But I say what are you going to do about it.  And that leads to this tirade on insurance and Obama.  *eye roll*  Give me a break.  I get you pay for health insurance.  I get that it went up.  But what I also get is that you pay a premium and you go to the Dr and you then pay the negotiated fee.  This did *not* change.  Nope. Not at all.  And he's bitching about having to pay the Dr.  Really?  I mean do you expect it to be free?  It's never been free!   So I flat out told him to shut it because I didn't want my night ruined.  But it already was.

I showered and left and went to my brother's house.  My mom was there helping my brother with the kids (he had a work accident and cannot manage both kids right now during recovery).  My SIL was at a meeting.  My nephew called me and said he had a gift for me. My mom had my gift with her.  So I left my husband at home cause I want not bringing Mr. Cranky Pants with me. I was there for about 2 hours and came home and slept on the couch.  Happy Birthday to me!

But. . . the highlights were that when my coworker found out it was my birthday he bought some of those yummy Lofthouse cookies when he went out the get lunch.  How nice!  I love those things.  And someone at my barn made this awesome smores brownie concoction.  My barn owner gave me a can of Ski when I got there and I ate 2 piece of this yumminess.

So not was all bad, but it could have been better.  Such is life though and I really need to decide how long to continue with this relationship that has the same unresolved issues over and over again.

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The drama of the week (or the past couple weeks) is that my cell phone contract is up on the 27th.  I have Sprint and I've had Sprint for 17+ years.  I brought my husband from Verizon . .  back when we were dating maybe?  Or engaged.   And we got a share plan.  My mom is my 3rd line.  And I'm trying to frantically figure out what to do about the phones.  It's complicated and this new rent-a-phone idea everyone has is not in the best interest of the consumer.  This is also causing stress with my husband.  Why?  I have no idea.  I pay the phone bill and I'm trying to find the best deal.  I had a call set up with Sprint last night and when they called me my husband started mumbling and grumbling "just get the free phone and be done with it". I couldn't hardly hear the lady on the phone.  He was acting like a child.  You know what? If I want to ask Sprint to do something for me given that I've been a customer for so long, then what's it to him?   But boy oh boy is this causing him to get pissed off.  And then he says he'll just go get his own phone.  Well I'm tempted to let him.  He can go get his own plan cause I'll likely renew a 2 year contract with Sprint, and I'm starting to wonder if he and I will be together for 2 more years.  And splitting the plan apart might be a pain.  So maybe I should just let him go off and figure this out for himself.  Cause phone plans suck. The math is confusing.  And I have a degree in math!  I told that to the lady at the Sprint store a couple weeks ago.  I said "I have a degree in math and this makes me feel stupid".   

Have a great weekend to whoever reads this little blog! :) 

A different weigh in day. . .

I don't think Mondays are the best day for me to weigh in.  I tend to drink less water over the weekend and if I cheat it's usually a weekend day. So I'm artificially up on Mondays.  However, here it is - big ol gain. . . I gained everything back.

This is beyond discouraging.  HUGE.  I ran 5 miles on Sat.  I was up a bit on Sunday.  I expected it.  A run can push me up.  And I didn't eat the best, but I was very active that day - walking a huge craft fair with my mom.  I was on track yesterday but I still went up. So I don't know.  I need to get this under control before I pack on *more* weight over the holidays.  I'm thinking of doing the Advocare 10 day cleanse again.  I just ordered one to have on hand as I sold the one I had.  I could start Friday.  I'm off Wed.  My birthday is Thurs.  So I don't want to start before then.

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Like I said, I went to a craft fair this weekend. . . this was my favorite purchase!!!

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I love snowmen.  I keep them out all year around in my house.  It's never the wrong time for some snowman love.  This guy is sitting on the shelf of a new floor lamp we got a few months back.  Perfect spot.  He's so freaking cute!!!

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At the end of last week I finally finished the crochet afghan I'm sending to my friend in TN.

As far as I know she doesn't read this blog.  I hope! :)  I'm not going to lie, I'd have loved to keep it for myself.  I hope she loves it!  I bought more yarn this weekend to start my next project.  A baby blanket for my brother's girlfriend. 

These are the colors that I chose and now I need to find a pattern! :) 

Finally some progress!

So I buckled down as best as I could last week and told myself that I would not mess up this weekend.  And finally there's progress on the scale!  That being said I should say that I got a 24 hour stomach bug on Saturday night and threw up once.  That definitely helped the scale.  The next morning I was down 2 lbs.  Then yesterday (Sunday) I ate a lot of crap.  All I wanted for lunch was waffle fries from Arby's.  Don't ask me why, but I got them and a Jr roast beef sandwich.  Yum!   I had ice cream for dinner.  The scale went up but not too much.

That's a loss of 4.6 lbs.  I would bet a bit is artificial.  We'll see what happens this week.  I'll take it for now and hope to carry it forward.  My fat % went up which I thought was interesting.  So many things affect that fat monitor though including dehydration and I suspect I am a bit dehydrated.

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I got to ride Eli on Saturday before I got sick.  I put his Back On Track blanket on for 30+ mins before riding.  I've never been able to implement this well enough to know if it's helpful.  He's not making much improvement and I'm tired of sending the vet more videos.  He just requested more last night.  I'd rather just take him back for the bone scan.  That would be the next step.  It's hard to keep making videos of me riding.  I need another person.  And it's been a month since we had the neck injections and there isn't really any progress to be had.  So I'm ready for the next step.

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I won these mums from a local orchard on FB last week.  Who knew someone actually won those things? :)  I haven't bought any mums so this was great!

2 weeks of no progress. . .

I don't know what's going on.  I'm eating better. . . I'm running more.  On Saturday morning I saw 185.something and this morning I'm back over 188.

I know I didn't eat the best on Saturday.  I worked the horse show at my barn.  I was there from 7:20 am - 6 pm.   I had an Advocare shake for breakfast.  Lunch was a brat and a "few" nachos - really just a few.  Hubby and I had a frozen pizza for dinner.  But I was on my feet all day and I was exhausted and sore.  Surely I didn't lose weight, but I blew up 2 lbs.  I did *not* eat 2 lbs of food.  I likely didn't drink enough water.

Sunday morning I ran 4 miles.  Again an Advocare shake for breakfast.  Lunch was 2 eggs and turkey sausage.  Dinner was at McAllister's.  I had a cup of chicken dumplings and half a club sandwich.  Nothing here is HORRIBLE.  But clearly my body doesn't like it :(  This is pure sadness for me.

So today I'm back trying to be beyond good.  Like perfect.

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This weekend I went to visit my brother at a hospital in St Louis.  He cut open his leg at work last week, severing a nerve and losing upward motion of his foot and toes on that foot.  They are doing a second surgery today to try to repair it.  Fingers crossed!  He's really bummed about this.

Afterwards we went to Trader Joe's for our annual purchase of pumpkins on a stick. 

These are really ornamental eggplant.  Who knew?  Every year I buy one bunch for me and one for my mom.  I buy one bouquet off fall flowers for each of us.  I combine them into an arrangement.  It's so fun!  I love them. :)  Maybe I should grow my own? 

Just so tired. . .

I've just been so tired lately.  It started when I got sick last week.  I had a cold/sinus/allergies or something like that and it slammed me.  I have a runny nose occasionally still, but my eyes are so fatigued.  They just want to be closed.  I thought maybe it's allergies.  I took zyrtec the last 2 days but didn't notice much difference.  Last night my husband and I both fell asleep in the living room by 8 pm.  It's very strange for him to fall asleep like that.  But it did help both of us with our evening snacking issue!   I think if this continues to next week I'll make a Dr appt.  Might be time to check my thyroid anyways.  I don't know if my weigh loss will affect the dosage of the meds.  I've kind of been waiting to hit 175 before I pursue that.

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Speaking of weight. . . I clocked in my lowest of the year.

Small little happy dance.  175 truly is my goal for now.  I want to see what I look like and how I feel.  Getting closer! :)  

I've made a different smoothie than normal this week.  Usually I use a chocolate protein powder, banana, ice and almond milk.   This week I've been using my Advocare Vanilla Meal Replacement Shake, almond milk, berries and ice.  Yum!  I make a huge breakfast smoothie. 

32 oz bubba there! :)  It's great. I sip on it at work in the AM.  And then I freeze my ass off cause it's cold in the my office *and* the smoothie makes me colder for at least 30 mins after drinking it. (yes that's my Yadi bobblehead peeking over my cup!)

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My car is in the shop.  I need new tie rods apparently.  I don't pretend to know what that is.  My husband's friend is a mechanic.   And apparently Toyota makes replacing the *inner* tie rods a bitch.  They won't sell them separately but they want you to buy the big huge thing they are attached to.  Yes I'm a girl and I don't know what I'm talking about.  What I do know is that inner tie rods run about $35-ish a piece.  And this big huge part runs about $900.  So we are actually trying to replace just the tie rods if it works.  Fingers crossed!  They should be in today.  I hope to have my car back no later than tomorrow. 

So I'm driving our truck.  It's a 3/4 ton Dodge Ram.  My work parking lot is so small it's kind of a PITA to park it.  I like driving it when my horse trailer is attached, but to just drive it as a regular vehicle - it's just too big.  I also drive it slower because of the size I guess. . . so it takes me longer to get to work.  Yesterday when I got to the barn I took my ring off and thought it looked pretty in the little place I found in the truck to stash it. 

I'm sure I've mentioned it before.  I bought that as a reward a few years ago when I got out of the 200's.  I won't let myself wear it if I weight 200 or above.  It's a ONEDERLAND ring :)   I often wear it as a wedding band because it's easier to wear than my wedding set.  And since I take rings off everyday when I get to the barn, it's easier to take off one than three.   I'm so thrilled to be wearing it almost daily now.  It was probably a whole year that I was in the 200's and that baby sat in my jewelry box. 

The Plan: weekly weigh in and lent

So I'm not religious. . . but lent has a start and an end. I gotta get control of my sweet tooth. So I'm giving up chocolate and candy starting tomorrow. I can't have it until Easter. I'm hoping this results in a little bit of weight loss as well.

The plan is also to post weekly weigh-ins. Yes I weigh daily. But Wednesdays are going to be *the* day. I'm not going to panic in between. I'm going to track my weight and fat % here every Wednesday. Let's see how that goes eh? :)

Now I've made a ton of progress running since I last blogged. This weekend I ran 3 miles on Sat and Sun and 4 miles yesterday morning (I was off work). 4 miles is HUGE! I never though I'd ever run that far. Wow. I'm impressed with myself. I burned 650 cals. The problem with this is that I weighed in at 183 today. I like to be at 176-177. I'm NOT happy with this. Today is Fat Tuesday and I'm rocking it! lol. But tomorrow I will be buckling down. I need to get back down. I want to keep running and lose the weight at the same time. Is that possible???