I would love to be posting the second part to my camping weekend but while at work I'm unable to upload pictures from my camera. So here's a little something to hold you over until I get the post written up with pictures.
First of all Bo is on my mind. He has sooo much energy lately and he's using it in the wrong way. He's been biting my fingers, hands, and arms a lot lately. I barely get him to let go and he's back at it again. I've tried to hold his mouth closed and say "no bite" in a strong voice but that doesn't seem to be working. I am open to suggestions! I know he's just a puppy but seriously, I try to play with him using his toys that he is allowed to chew/bite on but of course he goes for my hand/arm instead of the toy I'm holding. He does have a bone which he'll chew on it for a little bit but then seems to lose interest and is back to my hand/arm. It's getting frustrating and makes me want to not be around him. It's also frustrating to my brother who is home alone with him during the day so there is no escaping Bo. My dad doesn't seem to have this problem, not sure what's different about him. And my mom doesn't get on the floor to play with him a lot because of this problem we've been having. There has to be a happy medium between Bo sleeping and being (as we call him) a terrorist dog. What are you suggestions for teaching a puppy that people are not acceptable toys to chew/bite on?
Next thing on my mind is overtime. My department is in a big collections push as a result of a big billing push. Basically because the billing department has been told to "bill, bill, bill" for cash flow reasons, my department (credit/collections) is now being told to "collect, collect, collect". I'm not opposed to the overtime pay, and it's not that I don't have enough work to fill my time, but it makes for long hours at the office. Yesterday I worked 8.5 hours by only taking a half hour for my lunch break but wow was it ever a long day. It took until 4pm to get into a rhythm on the project I was working on. So, until 4pm the day seemed to drag by. I put a post-it note over the time on my phone because it sits right next to my computer screen which means I constantly glance at it. I even put papers over the clock radio that sits slightly behind me and is not in my direct line of sight. When I can't look at the time the day goes by a little bit better. If you follow me on Twitter you probably thought I was crazy when I posted a picture of my post-it note on my phone last week but I do it so I don't go crazy. Do you ever have to work overtime for your job? If so, how do you get through the long days?
And finally the last thing on my mind (but not on the bottom of the list of importance) is fitness. I haven't been doing any sort of activity, unless you count walking around the yard so Bo goes to the bathroom. Tonight, despite the scorching heat, I will be going for a walk. I don't care how it gets done, with Bo and my parents, with just Bo, or alone but it will get done! I've weighed Bo twice by holding him in my arms while on the scale, and then weighing myself alone on the scale. While it's not the scale I usually use to weigh in and I didn't record my weight I still did not like what I saw. Time and time again I say I'm going to kick my butt into gear to lose this excess weight but time and time again I'm not actually doing anything more than thinking about what I should be doing. News flash to self you won't lose weight by only thinking about what you should be doing, you need to actually do it!
There you have it, the ramblings that are going on in my head right now. I'll be posting the second part to my camping weekend (with pictures!) soon and hopefully not too far down the road I'll be posting my Country Fest 2011 recap (with pictures!) too.
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Update
Well I have some pretty freaking awesome news for you bloggy friends...Duke has been improving since his visit to the vet on Tuesday!!!! You have no idea how happy this makes me. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts this week!! I feel so blessed to have such awesome readers, and dare I say friends, who are there when I need them for their support and prayers!
Tuesday he was re-checked by the vet and had full blood work done to check everything to make sure there was nothing else going on with his body. The disease he has become a bit more serious though as we were informed that it's a lot like lymes disease was about 20 years ago when it was first discovered; information and treatment plans were always changing so they don't know how exactly to treat or how serious the disease is. The vet informed us that they have lost dogs from this disease. Scary stuff!
He was prescribed a steroid medication to start on that night and he's been improving ever since. My mom called to give the vet the update (as we were told to do) and tomorrow we are lowering the dosage from 1 and 1/2 tablets to 1 tablet every 12 hours for two days and then to a 1/2 tablet. If he would start going backwards in his progress we go back to the dosage that was helping. We have to call again on Tuesday to update them on how things are going. Fingers crossed that things keep improving and soon my family has our dog back!
Due to the crazy emotions throughout this week and caring for Duke I've been a bit distracted in the evenings so I haven't been writing as I would have liked to. I thought summer would lead to consistent posting but so far not so much :( I'm going to work on that!
On the weight loss front...
I've determined that losing weight on my own, away from Sparkpeople, just isn't working for me. As of Wednesday I've logged in every day, been tracking my meals as much as I can (which really isn't very much), and while I haven't "officially" worked out yet I have been thinking about it a lot more than I had been. I really want to make progress this summer and not look back. It feels like forever since I've felt good about myself and where I'm at/headed.
Anyways, that's a brief update of what's going in my life. I'll bore you ( ;) ) with more posts soon!
Tuesday he was re-checked by the vet and had full blood work done to check everything to make sure there was nothing else going on with his body. The disease he has become a bit more serious though as we were informed that it's a lot like lymes disease was about 20 years ago when it was first discovered; information and treatment plans were always changing so they don't know how exactly to treat or how serious the disease is. The vet informed us that they have lost dogs from this disease. Scary stuff!
He was prescribed a steroid medication to start on that night and he's been improving ever since. My mom called to give the vet the update (as we were told to do) and tomorrow we are lowering the dosage from 1 and 1/2 tablets to 1 tablet every 12 hours for two days and then to a 1/2 tablet. If he would start going backwards in his progress we go back to the dosage that was helping. We have to call again on Tuesday to update them on how things are going. Fingers crossed that things keep improving and soon my family has our dog back!
Due to the crazy emotions throughout this week and caring for Duke I've been a bit distracted in the evenings so I haven't been writing as I would have liked to. I thought summer would lead to consistent posting but so far not so much :( I'm going to work on that!
On the weight loss front...
I've determined that losing weight on my own, away from Sparkpeople, just isn't working for me. As of Wednesday I've logged in every day, been tracking my meals as much as I can (which really isn't very much), and while I haven't "officially" worked out yet I have been thinking about it a lot more than I had been. I really want to make progress this summer and not look back. It feels like forever since I've felt good about myself and where I'm at/headed.
Anyways, that's a brief update of what's going in my life. I'll bore you ( ;) ) with more posts soon!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
I'm finally cool like all of you!!
It's been a long time since I've been on a bike but thanks to a friend from high school, Sami, I'll be riding a bike on a regular basis this summer. Yesterday while at work I was working hard browsing Facebook on my phone and I came across Sami's status which she said her plan was to ride her bike at least 5 days a week this summer and lose 40 pounds by her birthday. After leaving a comment about how she should come to my house because I would ride with her I used Facebook to get her phone number so I could text her about really following through on this idea of getting together.
The plan was hatched to meet at my house today after I was home from class. I had mapped out some routes around my house we could try but when we were actually were ready to leave my house the plan(s) went out the window. Who needs a plan when you can just fly by the seat of your pants?
Thanks to my free Cardiotrainer app our route was mapped as we went and it was timed. Thanks to this awesome app I can now be cool like all of you and post mile splits and other work out information on my blog! Yes, I was really excited when this thought crossed my mind as I was reviewing the stats from my work out.
8.71 miles in 1:00:18
Mile 1: 6:16
Mile 2: 7:20
Mile 3: 5:36
Mile 4: 6:19
Mile 5: 7:07
Mile 6: 5:57
Mile 7: 8:19
Mile 8: 7:38
Average pace 6:55 min/mi
Using this app was awesome! This app automatically pauses your work out when you stop moving, awesomesauce! Between miles 1 and 2 there was in my terms a hill. Was there really? No, according to the elevation report there was only a slight change but not enough for it to really be something. There were also other little hills along the route which you can see from the slower mile splits. It's amazing how in a car, or even walking, I wouldn't notice these "hills" but biking boy oh boy do I notice them! I'm sure as the summer goes on and my legs become better conditioned I won't notice them as much.
The only thing I want to change for next time is the bikes we used. Because of my plans I thought we would be riding on the gravel roads around my house so we used the mountain bikes. But while flying by the seat of our pants we decided to just stay on the black top roads and just do out and back trips rather than round trips. My family has a few old road bikes so those will definitely be used next time.
Sami and I rewarded ourselves for our hard work with a piece of the cake I baked the other night. Recipe coming soon? As we were enjoying our reward we planned out when we could get together the next three weeks. We're going to get together again on Wednesday the 11th, Tuesday the 17th, and Sunday the 22nd. After that we're probably only going to be able to get together on the weekends because I will be working 8-5 Monday-Friday and she works at 6 every night. But getting together with her on the weekends is better than not at all. Our goal for the end of summer is to be able to ride to town and back to my house. Based on the one route I mapped out for this goal trip it will be roughly 30 miles total.
I plan on asking my dad if he would like to ride with me a couple of times a week because lets face it, riding alone with no one to talk to is boring and I can't rely on only riding with Sami if I want to be able to ride 30 miles by the end of summer without dying. I'm not sure when my next ride will be. Tomorrow the weather looks amazing, 63*F and sunny, but I'm not sure riding back to back days will be a good idea. Saturday would be my ideal day to ride, a day of rest in between rides, but the weather is looking to be less than ideal, 61*F with a few showers (30% chance of rain). Decisions decisions. Guess I shouldn't talk myself out of riding on Saturday, I mean I rode this afternoon and it was cold, cloudy, and windy and I did just fine.
Well that's my big news for today. I'll be biking this summer with my new work out buddy!
Question...
Anyone interested in helping me devise a biking plan for the summer?? Leave me a comment if you are!
Until next time...
The plan was hatched to meet at my house today after I was home from class. I had mapped out some routes around my house we could try but when we were actually were ready to leave my house the plan(s) went out the window. Who needs a plan when you can just fly by the seat of your pants?
Thanks to my free Cardiotrainer app our route was mapped as we went and it was timed. Thanks to this awesome app I can now be cool like all of you and post mile splits and other work out information on my blog! Yes, I was really excited when this thought crossed my mind as I was reviewing the stats from my work out.
8.71 miles in 1:00:18
Mile 1: 6:16
Mile 2: 7:20
Mile 3: 5:36
Mile 4: 6:19
Mile 5: 7:07
Mile 6: 5:57
Mile 7: 8:19
Mile 8: 7:38
Average pace 6:55 min/mi
Using this app was awesome! This app automatically pauses your work out when you stop moving, awesomesauce! Between miles 1 and 2 there was in my terms a hill. Was there really? No, according to the elevation report there was only a slight change but not enough for it to really be something. There were also other little hills along the route which you can see from the slower mile splits. It's amazing how in a car, or even walking, I wouldn't notice these "hills" but biking boy oh boy do I notice them! I'm sure as the summer goes on and my legs become better conditioned I won't notice them as much.
The only thing I want to change for next time is the bikes we used. Because of my plans I thought we would be riding on the gravel roads around my house so we used the mountain bikes. But while flying by the seat of our pants we decided to just stay on the black top roads and just do out and back trips rather than round trips. My family has a few old road bikes so those will definitely be used next time.
Sami and I rewarded ourselves for our hard work with a piece of the cake I baked the other night. Recipe coming soon? As we were enjoying our reward we planned out when we could get together the next three weeks. We're going to get together again on Wednesday the 11th, Tuesday the 17th, and Sunday the 22nd. After that we're probably only going to be able to get together on the weekends because I will be working 8-5 Monday-Friday and she works at 6 every night. But getting together with her on the weekends is better than not at all. Our goal for the end of summer is to be able to ride to town and back to my house. Based on the one route I mapped out for this goal trip it will be roughly 30 miles total.
I plan on asking my dad if he would like to ride with me a couple of times a week because lets face it, riding alone with no one to talk to is boring and I can't rely on only riding with Sami if I want to be able to ride 30 miles by the end of summer without dying. I'm not sure when my next ride will be. Tomorrow the weather looks amazing, 63*F and sunny, but I'm not sure riding back to back days will be a good idea. Saturday would be my ideal day to ride, a day of rest in between rides, but the weather is looking to be less than ideal, 61*F with a few showers (30% chance of rain). Decisions decisions. Guess I shouldn't talk myself out of riding on Saturday, I mean I rode this afternoon and it was cold, cloudy, and windy and I did just fine.
Well that's my big news for today. I'll be biking this summer with my new work out buddy!
Question...
Anyone interested in helping me devise a biking plan for the summer?? Leave me a comment if you are!
Until next time...
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Samsung Captivate Stole The Show
Well it's Sunday already, weekend is almost over booo! I have more than enough homework left to do but of course I'm feeling tired and lazy so productivity will be hard to come by. Thing is, I have the itch to clean today. Weird? I think so. I don't want to be productive when it comes to homework but I want to clean??
So anyways my last post I was stressing out about all of the work I had to do. Let's just say after that I got to an "I don't give a rat's butt any more" mood. Tuesday I had a speech prep form due, I haven't done that yet. Thursday I had to respond to my group member's speech prep forms, haven't done that yet. I need to do a discussion post that was due Tuesday that I was having technical difficulties with. And tomorrow my speech, the one I haven't even started to look at yet, is due. And to add the cherry on top of all of these things that were due this last week that I haven't done yet I need to start work for this week again. School is just a never-ending cycle and being a procrastinator means you always feel behind, even though you think about working on things and being productive to be on top of things.
Once I am done writing this post I will be hitting the books...while watching the race. So that means I'll probably be trying to work on things but will get very little done until after the race.
In other news, Wednesday after I was done with work at 3pm I went to the AT&T store to renew my contract and pick out a new phone. As you recall I had posted earlier about either a Blackberry Torch or iPhone. Well neither of them won. I arrive at the store and tell the man, Michael, what I'm there for (to renew my contract and get a new phone). So when Michael asks what phone I want I tell him I've been thinking BB Torch or iPhone. He tells me he doesn't think I'll like the BB for what I want to do (texting, Facebook, Twitter) and that he personally doesn't like the iPhone (he told me some reasons why but I can't remember). He tells me about the phone he has, the Samsung Captivate. About 45 minutes to an hour later I'm sold on the Captivate.
When Michael looks at my account on the computer he tells me it looks like you're out of contract and are not eligible for an upgrade until July. I'm like "whaaat Louie said I could upgrade on 4/13!" Louie is another AT&T employee, or he was not sure if he's still with the company, who I had seen towards the end of 2010 or early 2011 and asked when I could upgrade. So while I'm kind of freaking out Michael assures me that even if he can't get corporate to authorize the upgrade with my current phone number worst case I can cancel that number and get a new number, for no extra cost. Well the worst case happened, the woman Michael called said she's send me a phone but what that really means is it's refurbished and that's not what I want. The woman was rude to Michael as well so he was going to report her...she said "What part of she's not eligible for an upgrade do you not understand?" Oh yea, she said that to him all because he said "Well she'll just open a new line on her account to get her upgrade if you won't leave her keep her number" which he was basically saying either way this customer is getting what she wants today but you could be nice and help her out by letting her keep her number.
I was a bit sad to have to let my number go, it was the easiest number in the world to remember and I had it since I got my phone which was when I was like 12-years-old. But the sadness quickly went away when they found a sweet new number for me to have, 0288. Dale Jr, my favorite driver in NASCAR, drive the #88 so as soon as I heard this number I was like "OMG OMG OMG yes please I want that number!" Michael was awesome about my little freak out and even joked that I must just be cool because the receipt paper was at the end so it was striped, racing stripes haha.
I finally headed home at 5pm, 2 hours after arriving at the store. Of course when I got home I wanted to do nothing but play with my phone so I was lucky to get my history of rock and roll test done. Sadly I got a 60/100. These tests are seriously hard. You have to remember random facts about bands/artists that are discussed and stuff like that.
Thursday I went to my Managing Global Organizations class and took my first test of the class. I studied the vocabulary like my professor had said to. Turns out that wasn't very helpful, you need to study more than that. But I did get a 76% which was slightly above the class average. My professor left a note on D2L saying if you were at the average or above we were doing good but if not we needed to do better for the next test. Whew, I'm doing good! :)
Friday after work I came home and took my Organizational Behavior test and scored at 90% (Thank you Lexie for telling me to take it instead of waiting for Saturday!). Thank you professor for having the questions be only about the textbook readings so I can look up all the answers! That night my parents and I went out with another couple and their son and his friend. My dad was the DD (designated driver) so everyone was drinking. The son and his friend drove separately so they left shortly after eating. It was quite the night.
Because of the late night and drinking the night before Saturday (yesterday) was a very unproductive day unless you count watching DVR'd shows as being productive. I watched The Vampire Diaries, Nikita, Deadliest Catch, Survivor: Redemption Island, and How I Met Your Mother after I woke up at 10:30am. Other than that a whole lot of nothing got done haha.
I will be doing a post about my current weight loss progress soon as I think that's what everyone is most interested in reading about on my blog, with a sprinkling of other things in my life.
No questions today...
Until next time!
So anyways my last post I was stressing out about all of the work I had to do. Let's just say after that I got to an "I don't give a rat's butt any more" mood. Tuesday I had a speech prep form due, I haven't done that yet. Thursday I had to respond to my group member's speech prep forms, haven't done that yet. I need to do a discussion post that was due Tuesday that I was having technical difficulties with. And tomorrow my speech, the one I haven't even started to look at yet, is due. And to add the cherry on top of all of these things that were due this last week that I haven't done yet I need to start work for this week again. School is just a never-ending cycle and being a procrastinator means you always feel behind, even though you think about working on things and being productive to be on top of things.
Once I am done writing this post I will be hitting the books...while watching the race. So that means I'll probably be trying to work on things but will get very little done until after the race.
In other news, Wednesday after I was done with work at 3pm I went to the AT&T store to renew my contract and pick out a new phone. As you recall I had posted earlier about either a Blackberry Torch or iPhone. Well neither of them won. I arrive at the store and tell the man, Michael, what I'm there for (to renew my contract and get a new phone). So when Michael asks what phone I want I tell him I've been thinking BB Torch or iPhone. He tells me he doesn't think I'll like the BB for what I want to do (texting, Facebook, Twitter) and that he personally doesn't like the iPhone (he told me some reasons why but I can't remember). He tells me about the phone he has, the Samsung Captivate. About 45 minutes to an hour later I'm sold on the Captivate.
When Michael looks at my account on the computer he tells me it looks like you're out of contract and are not eligible for an upgrade until July. I'm like "whaaat Louie said I could upgrade on 4/13!" Louie is another AT&T employee, or he was not sure if he's still with the company, who I had seen towards the end of 2010 or early 2011 and asked when I could upgrade. So while I'm kind of freaking out Michael assures me that even if he can't get corporate to authorize the upgrade with my current phone number worst case I can cancel that number and get a new number, for no extra cost. Well the worst case happened, the woman Michael called said she's send me a phone but what that really means is it's refurbished and that's not what I want. The woman was rude to Michael as well so he was going to report her...she said "What part of she's not eligible for an upgrade do you not understand?" Oh yea, she said that to him all because he said "Well she'll just open a new line on her account to get her upgrade if you won't leave her keep her number" which he was basically saying either way this customer is getting what she wants today but you could be nice and help her out by letting her keep her number.
I was a bit sad to have to let my number go, it was the easiest number in the world to remember and I had it since I got my phone which was when I was like 12-years-old. But the sadness quickly went away when they found a sweet new number for me to have, 0288. Dale Jr, my favorite driver in NASCAR, drive the #88 so as soon as I heard this number I was like "OMG OMG OMG yes please I want that number!" Michael was awesome about my little freak out and even joked that I must just be cool because the receipt paper was at the end so it was striped, racing stripes haha.
I finally headed home at 5pm, 2 hours after arriving at the store. Of course when I got home I wanted to do nothing but play with my phone so I was lucky to get my history of rock and roll test done. Sadly I got a 60/100. These tests are seriously hard. You have to remember random facts about bands/artists that are discussed and stuff like that.
Thursday I went to my Managing Global Organizations class and took my first test of the class. I studied the vocabulary like my professor had said to. Turns out that wasn't very helpful, you need to study more than that. But I did get a 76% which was slightly above the class average. My professor left a note on D2L saying if you were at the average or above we were doing good but if not we needed to do better for the next test. Whew, I'm doing good! :)
Friday after work I came home and took my Organizational Behavior test and scored at 90% (Thank you Lexie for telling me to take it instead of waiting for Saturday!). Thank you professor for having the questions be only about the textbook readings so I can look up all the answers! That night my parents and I went out with another couple and their son and his friend. My dad was the DD (designated driver) so everyone was drinking. The son and his friend drove separately so they left shortly after eating. It was quite the night.
Because of the late night and drinking the night before Saturday (yesterday) was a very unproductive day unless you count watching DVR'd shows as being productive. I watched The Vampire Diaries, Nikita, Deadliest Catch, Survivor: Redemption Island, and How I Met Your Mother after I woke up at 10:30am. Other than that a whole lot of nothing got done haha.
I will be doing a post about my current weight loss progress soon as I think that's what everyone is most interested in reading about on my blog, with a sprinkling of other things in my life.
No questions today...
Until next time!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The Results Are In
Good morning!
Once again I am sorry for the week delay in my next post. Here's a little catch up with what's been going on in my life.
Wednesday I worked, nothing spectacular. Watched Survivor Redemption Island with the family and probably thought about working on homework but never got around to it.
Thursday I had my first Managing Global Organizations class from 11-1:30. I think I will like the professor but it sounds like this class will be a lot of work :( Prior to going to class I was trying to read all of chapter 1, that didn't go so well. After I got home I can't remember what I did so obviously it was nothing productive, whoops!
Friday I worked from 8-2 and planned on coming home and getting my homework done that was due that night. If you're thinking "Yeah right she didn't get it done" you are absolutely correct. I've mentioned in a previous blog that I'm a NASCAR fan so when my dad had practice on I was getting hooked into watching that instead of working on my homework. My mom had won a basket at church (it was a silent auction) that had a $25 gift certificate to Homestead Inn (a bar we go to occasionally for Friday night fish). At work she had already mentioned wanting to go there which is part of the reason why I was planning to get the Friday night homework done right when I got home. But anyways, we went out to dinner and ended up staying out until 11.
Saturday morning I wake up at 8 and am thinking to myself gotta bust out this homework you didn't do last night. Of course plans changed. I ended up going to town with my parents for the morning before meeting up with Jackie and her two children Lane (7) and Lauren (3) to go see the movie Hop. We had seen them at Homestead the night before and when Jackie mentioned she had no plans for the weekend I asked if she would want to take the kids to the movie with me, she said yes obviously. It was a cute movie and I thought it was good. I was a bit frustrated though, Jackie mentioned that she'd pay for my ticket and we'll figure out something for food when we get in there. I'm thinking OK that's fine. But when we get in the theater she's just like "I'm going to get food" so I give her $15, which is all I had on me in cash. I didn't expect her to use it all! She comes back and had gotten the big bucket of popcorn and the two big sodas and didn't give me any change! Lane ate 3/4 of the pop corn and the one soda was for the kids to share, the other was mine because of the caffeine. I would have rather paid for my $7 movie ticket than $15 for the food. I know she had to pay a lot more for tickets because she had herself and two kids (which are $6.50, 50 cents cheaper?!) but she didn't ask if it was OK if she just used my money to pay for the food. I guess that's what irritates me the most is that she didn't communicate what her plan really was for the food situation.
Finally when I got home from the movie I got my homework done that was due Friday. After that all of my productivity went down the tubes. If I recall correctly I spent the rest of my weekend with my nose stuffed in a book. I finished Riding Lessons towards the end of the week, started and finished Flying Changes probably Thursday/Friday-Saturday, and then started The Horse Whisperer Sunday. I'll see what I can do about writing up some reviews. I forgot to stop at the library yesterday to pick up Water for Elephants so I will definitely be doing that after work tomorrow!
And now onto yesterday! I worked 7:30-2:30 so I could arrive at my doctor appointment on time. At the end of the visit my doctor talks to me about my cholesterol, which I had blood drawn for last week (mentioned in So much to say, so little time). It's a bit high, 236 when it should be 200 or less. But on the bright side my good cholesterol is good at 66 (I can't remember what it's supposed to be over). And then again on the downside there is something that is a bit higher than it should be, but because I have 0-1 risk factors it's OK where it is. I'm sorry I don't have a better explanation for you all, this is just what I remember. Anyways, she wants to check it again in a year. Oh! And she brought up my weight, said it had gone up since last time. I was like "Yeah and your scale sucks because just last week I was 187 and now I'm 195!" We decided it was the shoes and clothes because when I weigh myself at home I only wear shorts and a t-shirt, nothing heavy. But still she wants to see my weight go down, and the dieting and exercising would help the cholesterol go down. Guess I'm now under a bit of pressure to really see some results in a year with my weight loss. Wish me luck!
Now it is time to buckle down on my homework. I am not turning the TV on today so it cannot be a distraction. I have so much to do so if I can make today really productive I will have a weight lifted off of my shoulders.
Questions...
When you're unmotivated to do something you have to do, like homework, do you set up a reward for yourself to help motivate you?
I'm kind of thinking being able to watch TV with my family in the evening might be a good reward for me since that's what I like to use to distract myself from homework.
How do you deal with what feels like an overwhelming work load?
If I made a list of everything I need to get done this week it would be super long, and just seems like I can't get it done unless I ONLY work on homework whenever I'm not in class or at work.
Looking forward to reading your answers about these questions!
Until next time...
Once again I am sorry for the week delay in my next post. Here's a little catch up with what's been going on in my life.
Wednesday I worked, nothing spectacular. Watched Survivor Redemption Island with the family and probably thought about working on homework but never got around to it.
Thursday I had my first Managing Global Organizations class from 11-1:30. I think I will like the professor but it sounds like this class will be a lot of work :( Prior to going to class I was trying to read all of chapter 1, that didn't go so well. After I got home I can't remember what I did so obviously it was nothing productive, whoops!
Friday I worked from 8-2 and planned on coming home and getting my homework done that was due that night. If you're thinking "Yeah right she didn't get it done" you are absolutely correct. I've mentioned in a previous blog that I'm a NASCAR fan so when my dad had practice on I was getting hooked into watching that instead of working on my homework. My mom had won a basket at church (it was a silent auction) that had a $25 gift certificate to Homestead Inn (a bar we go to occasionally for Friday night fish). At work she had already mentioned wanting to go there which is part of the reason why I was planning to get the Friday night homework done right when I got home. But anyways, we went out to dinner and ended up staying out until 11.
Saturday morning I wake up at 8 and am thinking to myself gotta bust out this homework you didn't do last night. Of course plans changed. I ended up going to town with my parents for the morning before meeting up with Jackie and her two children Lane (7) and Lauren (3) to go see the movie Hop. We had seen them at Homestead the night before and when Jackie mentioned she had no plans for the weekend I asked if she would want to take the kids to the movie with me, she said yes obviously. It was a cute movie and I thought it was good. I was a bit frustrated though, Jackie mentioned that she'd pay for my ticket and we'll figure out something for food when we get in there. I'm thinking OK that's fine. But when we get in the theater she's just like "I'm going to get food" so I give her $15, which is all I had on me in cash. I didn't expect her to use it all! She comes back and had gotten the big bucket of popcorn and the two big sodas and didn't give me any change! Lane ate 3/4 of the pop corn and the one soda was for the kids to share, the other was mine because of the caffeine. I would have rather paid for my $7 movie ticket than $15 for the food. I know she had to pay a lot more for tickets because she had herself and two kids (which are $6.50, 50 cents cheaper?!) but she didn't ask if it was OK if she just used my money to pay for the food. I guess that's what irritates me the most is that she didn't communicate what her plan really was for the food situation.
Finally when I got home from the movie I got my homework done that was due Friday. After that all of my productivity went down the tubes. If I recall correctly I spent the rest of my weekend with my nose stuffed in a book. I finished Riding Lessons towards the end of the week, started and finished Flying Changes probably Thursday/Friday-Saturday, and then started The Horse Whisperer Sunday. I'll see what I can do about writing up some reviews. I forgot to stop at the library yesterday to pick up Water for Elephants so I will definitely be doing that after work tomorrow!
And now onto yesterday! I worked 7:30-2:30 so I could arrive at my doctor appointment on time. At the end of the visit my doctor talks to me about my cholesterol, which I had blood drawn for last week (mentioned in So much to say, so little time). It's a bit high, 236 when it should be 200 or less. But on the bright side my good cholesterol is good at 66 (I can't remember what it's supposed to be over). And then again on the downside there is something that is a bit higher than it should be, but because I have 0-1 risk factors it's OK where it is. I'm sorry I don't have a better explanation for you all, this is just what I remember. Anyways, she wants to check it again in a year. Oh! And she brought up my weight, said it had gone up since last time. I was like "Yeah and your scale sucks because just last week I was 187 and now I'm 195!" We decided it was the shoes and clothes because when I weigh myself at home I only wear shorts and a t-shirt, nothing heavy. But still she wants to see my weight go down, and the dieting and exercising would help the cholesterol go down. Guess I'm now under a bit of pressure to really see some results in a year with my weight loss. Wish me luck!
Now it is time to buckle down on my homework. I am not turning the TV on today so it cannot be a distraction. I have so much to do so if I can make today really productive I will have a weight lifted off of my shoulders.
Questions...
When you're unmotivated to do something you have to do, like homework, do you set up a reward for yourself to help motivate you?
I'm kind of thinking being able to watch TV with my family in the evening might be a good reward for me since that's what I like to use to distract myself from homework.
How do you deal with what feels like an overwhelming work load?
If I made a list of everything I need to get done this week it would be super long, and just seems like I can't get it done unless I ONLY work on homework whenever I'm not in class or at work.
Looking forward to reading your answers about these questions!
Until next time...
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
So much to say, so little time
Hey there bloggers...I started this post on Monday after work but saved it as a draft without publishing it because I had homework I needed to get done, and I had planned this whole productive afternoon and evening out which didn't include blogging until after I was done with my to-do list. Unfortunately, I never got around to finishing the post. And then yesterday was not the day I thought it would be either but more on that in a bit.
Sunday I had planned on working on my assignments for history of rock and roll that are due next week. But because of the fact that those assignments are due next week, meaning I was (or would be) working ahead, I gave myself an excuse to not put in as much effort as I should have. I got nothing done yesterday :( I read one section of the assigned reading and then just kind of messed around online and watched TV. So in a nut shell, nothing got done.
My plan for Monday afternoon to make up for Sunday's lack of productivity was to do the following before dinner.
While I didn't carry out my plan as well as I had been thinking I would I did pretty well.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I had no work and no class to attend so I was thinking it would be a great day to be super productive for my online classes. I should have never turned on the movie channels yesterday...all my productivity went down the tube then. I watched The Bounty Hunter with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston, Dear John mmm Channing Tatum!!, The Ugle Truth (love love love Gerard and Katherine Heigle (sp??)), and I rounded out the day with Rock Star which had Jennifer Aniston in it. I had never heard of this movie until I found it on CMT yesterday. It was from 2001. Not a bad movie.
I did all of this movie watching after I had gone in to have my blood drawn for labs early in the morning. On Monday (the 4th) I am seeing my doctor for my yearly visit and she decided last year that I should have labs done up, I think to just get a baseline of my cholesterol but I'm not really sure. I am a bit nervous to find out what the labs say. I am really hoping that my weight gain and lack of weight loss has not affected my health.
I've finally created a new page on my blog. I decided to make it My Journey page of my weight loss. I am going to do my best to take pictures on a regular basis and post them along with posting my weigh ins on this page. I have never been one for measuring but if I do end up taking measurements I will also post them there. Basically anything that can serve as a means to track my weight loss will be on this page. I took my first pictures Monday and posted them there. You can check it out here. I also weighed myself on my Wii Fit yesterday before eating breakfast so that is also posted there.
I was browsing through Hollie's blog roll Sunday and chose to check out A Taste of Confidence. I found a book review of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and found myself really interested in the book so I requested it from the public library. It also helps that a movie based on the book is coming out with Robert Pattison and Reese Witherspoon ;) It was when I was on the public library's website that I discovered I own a book by the same author. I have already read Riding Lesson but it was a while ago so I started re-reading it. It's an awesome book. I had always been on the look-out for the sequel whenever I saw books at the store but I never found it. I decided to request it from the library as well along with The Horse Whisperer that was mentioned on the back of Riding Lesson. The Horse Whisperer is already ready for me to pick up so after work today I'll be stopping at the library. Unfortunately, Water for Elephants is a popular book right now and I am number four on the request list so I don't think I'll be getting that book as quickly.
Besides the books I am getting from the library I just received the next 3 books in the Pretty Little Liars series on Monday. I picked up the first 3 from Barnes and Noble when I took Duke in for a grooming and had 3 hours to fill. I started watching the TV series based on the books last summer. I DVR'd the whole season the day of the summer finale (they re-aired all the episodes that day). And then this spring I have been watching the new episode every week. Sadly the spring finale was last week so now I have to wait until summer for more episodes. I love the show but from what I've read of the books so far it's pretty different. I like them both equally though despite the differences between the two.
I apologize for this really long post. I guess I had a lot to say, and I'm not even out of things to say yet! But I'm going to call this the end for today before I put you all to sleep ;)
I hope you have had a marvelous Monday, a terrific Tuesday, and a wonderful Wednesday so far this week.
Questions...
When books are made into TV series or movies do you love 'em or hate 'em compared to the book?
Twilight comes to mind for me...I LOVE the books more than I love the movies buuut I LOVE the movies too. I've read the books multiple times and watched the movies multiple times :)
Is there a book you highly recommend everyone to read??
Until next time...
Sunday I had planned on working on my assignments for history of rock and roll that are due next week. But because of the fact that those assignments are due next week, meaning I was (or would be) working ahead, I gave myself an excuse to not put in as much effort as I should have. I got nothing done yesterday :( I read one section of the assigned reading and then just kind of messed around online and watched TV. So in a nut shell, nothing got done.
My plan for Monday afternoon to make up for Sunday's lack of productivity was to do the following before dinner.
- Speech - No speech for this unit but there was an activity needed to be done by Monday. The plan was to have this completed before my parents came home and we ate dinner.
- Laundry - Put laundry in while working on speech assignment.
- Walk the dog (with parents?) - After dinner take a walk with my dog Duke and possibly my parents if they chose to come with me.
- Watch Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) with Alexis - This one is pretty self-explanatory :)
While I didn't carry out my plan as well as I had been thinking I would I did pretty well.
- Speech - Started reading articles to do the opening activity but did not finish the assignment before dinner. Because of the walk and DWTS I didn't finish the assignment until around 10pm. By this time there was still hardly any posts by other students so I decided I would do the response the next day.
- Laundry - Success! I didn't get all of my laundry done but I did do some.
- Walk with Duke - Another success! After dinner both of my parents and I headed out on a walk. I walk faster than my mom so she told me to go ahead, she would walk with my dad. I had Duke so I wasn't walking alone, even though I had no one to talk to ;) Duke and I went 1.89 miles in 31 minutes, shaving off 2 minutes from the week before when we did the same walk. Wanting to get home in time for DWTS was motivating obviously ;)
- Watch DWTS w/Alexis - Success again! I love watching DWTS and it was even better "watching" it with Alexis. She is just too funny sometimes, but I love it. I'm rooting for Chelsea (the Disney star) and Kirstie Alley this season. I've voted both weeks for them and it has paid off because neither of them were eliminated last night. Oh by the way, Maks is HOT! I would definitely dance my butt off for him ;)
Yesterday (Tuesday) I had no work and no class to attend so I was thinking it would be a great day to be super productive for my online classes. I should have never turned on the movie channels yesterday...all my productivity went down the tube then. I watched The Bounty Hunter with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston, Dear John mmm Channing Tatum!!, The Ugle Truth (love love love Gerard and Katherine Heigle (sp??)), and I rounded out the day with Rock Star which had Jennifer Aniston in it. I had never heard of this movie until I found it on CMT yesterday. It was from 2001. Not a bad movie.
I did all of this movie watching after I had gone in to have my blood drawn for labs early in the morning. On Monday (the 4th) I am seeing my doctor for my yearly visit and she decided last year that I should have labs done up, I think to just get a baseline of my cholesterol but I'm not really sure. I am a bit nervous to find out what the labs say. I am really hoping that my weight gain and lack of weight loss has not affected my health.
I've finally created a new page on my blog. I decided to make it My Journey page of my weight loss. I am going to do my best to take pictures on a regular basis and post them along with posting my weigh ins on this page. I have never been one for measuring but if I do end up taking measurements I will also post them there. Basically anything that can serve as a means to track my weight loss will be on this page. I took my first pictures Monday and posted them there. You can check it out here. I also weighed myself on my Wii Fit yesterday before eating breakfast so that is also posted there.
I was browsing through Hollie's blog roll Sunday and chose to check out A Taste of Confidence. I found a book review of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and found myself really interested in the book so I requested it from the public library. It also helps that a movie based on the book is coming out with Robert Pattison and Reese Witherspoon ;) It was when I was on the public library's website that I discovered I own a book by the same author. I have already read Riding Lesson but it was a while ago so I started re-reading it. It's an awesome book. I had always been on the look-out for the sequel whenever I saw books at the store but I never found it. I decided to request it from the library as well along with The Horse Whisperer that was mentioned on the back of Riding Lesson. The Horse Whisperer is already ready for me to pick up so after work today I'll be stopping at the library. Unfortunately, Water for Elephants is a popular book right now and I am number four on the request list so I don't think I'll be getting that book as quickly.
Besides the books I am getting from the library I just received the next 3 books in the Pretty Little Liars series on Monday. I picked up the first 3 from Barnes and Noble when I took Duke in for a grooming and had 3 hours to fill. I started watching the TV series based on the books last summer. I DVR'd the whole season the day of the summer finale (they re-aired all the episodes that day). And then this spring I have been watching the new episode every week. Sadly the spring finale was last week so now I have to wait until summer for more episodes. I love the show but from what I've read of the books so far it's pretty different. I like them both equally though despite the differences between the two.
I apologize for this really long post. I guess I had a lot to say, and I'm not even out of things to say yet! But I'm going to call this the end for today before I put you all to sleep ;)
I hope you have had a marvelous Monday, a terrific Tuesday, and a wonderful Wednesday so far this week.
Questions...
When books are made into TV series or movies do you love 'em or hate 'em compared to the book?
Twilight comes to mind for me...I LOVE the books more than I love the movies buuut I LOVE the movies too. I've read the books multiple times and watched the movies multiple times :)
Is there a book you highly recommend everyone to read??
Until next time...
Monday, March 21, 2011
How Bad Do You Want It?
Hey there blogger friends! I hope you all had a fantabulous weekend! Hopefully you had good weather. Wisconsin's weather got a little crazy yesterday. It was cold and raining/snowing. Today sounds like it will be our last nice day with a high of 45*F until Thursday. Tomorrow is supposed to only get up to 36*F and is going to be ice to rain with wind and Wednesday isn't going to be much better (probably worse actually) with a high of 28*F and a wintery mix to snow with wind. Winter just does not want to let go yet I guess ;)
Enough about the weather...
Nikki recently wrote an amazing post about weight loss (read it here) that got me thinking about my own weight loss journey, or lack there of. It was specifically this line that made me think, "But before anyone ever starts a weight loss and exercise program, you have to want it." I question whether I really want to change my lifestyle and lose weight.
If someone randomly asked me if I wanted to lose weight my answer in a nanosecond is yes. There is no doubt in my mind that I want to lose weight. As Nikki also wrote, "I was unhappy, unhealthy, and out of shape." only I am unhappy, unhealthy, and out of shape.
So why am I questioning if I want it? Because I am heavier now than I was in 2009 when I first decided to lose weight. I have made no progress in my weight loss. If I want to lose weight why haven't I committed to eating healthier, and exercising regularly? That is exactly what I ask myself every time I look in the mirror. To be honest I don't know why I haven't committed myself to changing my life for the better, or I at least haven't figured it out or admitted it to myself.
I apologize if I sound like a broken record whining about not losing weight when I'm not doing anything to change that.
As you all begin to know me better and better you will start to pick up on the fact that I relate things in my life to songs, a lot. Of course this situation is no different. The song that I think fits this situation in my life really well is How Bad Do You Want It? by Tim McGraw. It is exactly what I need to ask myself...how bad do I want to change my life for the better? Obviously the more I want to change the more dedicated I should be. Right now I'm a bit off-balance, I'm not as dedicated as I should be. I am going to change that, I want to be balanced.
I am a member of the weight loss site Sparkpeople but lately haven't been using the tools available to me. To start the process of dedicating myself to weight loss I am going to re-set my account on Spark so I can start fresh with my nutrition and fitness log and my goals.
Here are some goals I have for myself with re-setting my Spark account, and with re-dedicating myself to losing weight.
Well there it is, my plan of action. I am going to re-set my account on Spark tomorrow morning so I can start fresh with a new weigh in. This does not mean I am putting off what I can do today. I will begin to work on my nutrition and fitness today, not tomorrow.
I can do this.
I want to do this.
I will do this.
Until next time =)...
Enough about the weather...
Nikki recently wrote an amazing post about weight loss (read it here) that got me thinking about my own weight loss journey, or lack there of. It was specifically this line that made me think, "But before anyone ever starts a weight loss and exercise program, you have to want it." I question whether I really want to change my lifestyle and lose weight.
If someone randomly asked me if I wanted to lose weight my answer in a nanosecond is yes. There is no doubt in my mind that I want to lose weight. As Nikki also wrote, "I was unhappy, unhealthy, and out of shape." only I am unhappy, unhealthy, and out of shape.
So why am I questioning if I want it? Because I am heavier now than I was in 2009 when I first decided to lose weight. I have made no progress in my weight loss. If I want to lose weight why haven't I committed to eating healthier, and exercising regularly? That is exactly what I ask myself every time I look in the mirror. To be honest I don't know why I haven't committed myself to changing my life for the better, or I at least haven't figured it out or admitted it to myself.
I apologize if I sound like a broken record whining about not losing weight when I'm not doing anything to change that.
As you all begin to know me better and better you will start to pick up on the fact that I relate things in my life to songs, a lot. Of course this situation is no different. The song that I think fits this situation in my life really well is How Bad Do You Want It? by Tim McGraw. It is exactly what I need to ask myself...how bad do I want to change my life for the better? Obviously the more I want to change the more dedicated I should be. Right now I'm a bit off-balance, I'm not as dedicated as I should be. I am going to change that, I want to be balanced.
I am a member of the weight loss site Sparkpeople but lately haven't been using the tools available to me. To start the process of dedicating myself to weight loss I am going to re-set my account on Spark so I can start fresh with my nutrition and fitness log and my goals.
Here are some goals I have for myself with re-setting my Spark account, and with re-dedicating myself to losing weight.
- Nutrition ~ I will do my best to log everything I eat. I always struggle with logging meals at home because I do not measure my food. It may sound stupid because my family supports me but I do not want to measure my food in front of them. It makes me feel awkward just thinking about do it in front of them. So, I will do my best to estimate. I will work on eating smaller portion sizes and limiting my junk food, including soda.
- Fitness ~ I will commit myself to 3 days/week cardio of at least 30 minutes and 2 days/week strength training of at least 15 minutes.
- Blogging ~ I used to try to blog on Spark but since starting this blog I think I will not set a goal to blog in both. This blog will be my primary blog with maybe occasional posts on my Spark blog. I am going to commit myself to blogging 5 days/week. I am not going to specify what my posts have to be about; they could be nutrition, fitness, or just my life. This is basically what I am doing now so it will not be something I need to change other than making sure to blog at leat 5 days/week.
Well there it is, my plan of action. I am going to re-set my account on Spark tomorrow morning so I can start fresh with a new weigh in. This does not mean I am putting off what I can do today. I will begin to work on my nutrition and fitness today, not tomorrow.
I can do this.
I want to do this.
I will do this.
Until next time =)...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
How I Got Where I Am Today & Facing the Music
I have a horrible habit that needs to be changed. Every night I set my alarm for a decent time to wake up that will give me plenty of time to get ready for school or work and have time to eat breakfast along with anything else I might want to do before heading out the door. And every morning I hit the snooze button repeatedly. This morning for instance, my cell phone alarm was set for 6:50a and my iHome alarm was set for 7a so my intention was to get up at 7. I woke up for the first alarm, and snoozed it 3 times which I had planned for. Now between the 2nd and 3rd snooze of the cell phone alarm my iHome alarm went off meaning I should get out of bed but if not my last cell phone alarm will be my final call. That didn't happen. I ended up snoozing my iHome alarm until it was 7:30!! Now by no means was I late for anything as I don't have class until 11a today but I had wanted to get up at 7 to work on reading for the class I have later in the day or preparing the speech I need to record and submit. I've done neither :-/ From 7:30-8 I laid in bed reading blogs (they're addicting!!) and then finally at 8 I figured I needed to get out of bed. I didn't use my morning as I had planned to but I did weigh in, something I needed to do, and write this entry, which I definitely didn't need to do this morning.
It's been 53 days since the last time I weighed myself...probably because I know I haven't been putting in the effort to lose weight and I didn't want to face the music. I put my big girl panties on and dealt with it though. I needed to see the damage that my lack of effort and dedication did.
A gain of only 2.2lbs in the big picture isn't THAT bad. But to me it's bad. When I initially made the decision to lose weight it was June of 2009 and I was at my highest weight of 179.5lbs. I lost weight that summer, my lowest being 172lbs. Not a huge loss but it was progress in the right direction and I was happy with it.
It's been 53 days since the last time I weighed myself...probably because I know I haven't been putting in the effort to lose weight and I didn't want to face the music. I put my big girl panties on and dealt with it though. I needed to see the damage that my lack of effort and dedication did.
A gain of only 2.2lbs in the big picture isn't THAT bad. But to me it's bad. When I initially made the decision to lose weight it was June of 2009 and I was at my highest weight of 179.5lbs. I lost weight that summer, my lowest being 172lbs. Not a huge loss but it was progress in the right direction and I was happy with it.
And then it was all downhill (or back up the hill) from there. Another semester of college started, I gave in to the temptation of having Mountain Dew at school just because it was available to me, I was eating unhealthy food for lunch due to a large break between classes, and I wasn't exercising as much if at all. By the end of October I was back up to 179lbs but quickly moved back in the right direction, by 11/13/09 I was back down to 175.3lbs. But then I "fell off the wagon"...I stopped weighing in once a week so I wasn't able to see what my actions were doing to my body. It wasn't until 1/2/10 that I stepped on the Wii Fit again and what it told me wasn't good. I weighed 182.5lbs, a gain of 7.2lbs since 11/13/09! A new highest weight, not something I had ever wanted to say.
My weight has been like a yo-yo since then going up and down, up and down. Not a lot just a pound or two here and there but eventually the weight started going up more than it was going down. I wasn't staying around the same weight any more. First it was 184, then I found myself at 185, then 186, 187, and finally at 188 which is where I am at now.
In 2009 when I had lost some weight I didn't notice a difference in my body. Now as I've put on some weight I've noticed a huge difference in my body. I used to only have stretch marks on my hips, the love handles. Now I have stretch marks there as well as my stomach on the left and right sides of my belly button just below it. When I lay on my back my hip bones no longer stick out, there's too much fat in the way for that to happen. I can no longer "suck it in" and make my stomach appear flat. If I knew what would happen to my body in 2009 I would like to think I would have worked harder to keep the progress going, or at the very least not let my weight become worse than it was but of course hindsight is 20/20.
So now what?? As much as I dislike what my body has become you would think I would be out there hitting the gym or working out at home all the time, eating healthier foods, cutting out Mountain Dew but is that what I'm doing? Honestly, no. I try to cut Mountain Dew out and I do well during the week when I'm at work all day but with school I again am tempted to buy a bottle from the vending machine to enjoy during my 2.5 hour long class twice a week and on the weekends when I am lounging around with nothing to do but homework I think about how good one would taste so I cave and have one, or two, or three (yes I seriously did that Sunday). I've hit the gym once in three months and haven't been back since. Should I go today after class? Definitely! But I have a 3-4 minute speech I have to write and record by the end of the day so am I tempted to not work out? For sure! Excuses is what it is. Do I want to lose the weight or not?? By my actions you would think no but by my feelings towards my body you would definitely think so.
So how do I get myself moving in the right direction again? How do I get myself to commit and keep that commitment? Tough questions...ones that I haven't found the answers to yet :(
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)