My Confession

Another One Week Challenge

Since this is my second week back to work, I'm getting used to my schedule enough to start challenging myself again. I'm giving myself another "one week challenge." This time I want to focus on my eating plan and making sure to get some kind of exercise in five days a week whether is finally finishing C25K (I owe myself two more 30 minute jogs.) or sanding/painting walls in the bathroom. I want to make sure to be accountable by writing about what I eat and do for exercise here on this blog. I might not make it to the computer every day, but I will be sure to write about it later.

My Confession

Today I thought I would start off with a confession. Some of you may have noticed by now that I love to go shopping, and I love to find a good deal. Especially when it comes to clothes and accessories. I also really love fashion (although it isn't much fun when you are big).  I love spending hours on the weekend searching sales and clearance racks at several different stores. I love going by myself and with friends. My confession is that I've been doing too much of that this summer. Isn't it funny how people who are overweight have a tendency to have excesses in other parts of their life? That is the emotional/psychological part that a lot of us have to work on otherwise the weight will never come off/stay off.

My goal for August was not to buy any more clothes. I needed to focus on losing weight and fitting into the clothes I already own. I made it pretty far, but I had a little slip up this weekend. I found clearance racks with an extra 40% off at K-mart (don't laugh- some of my most complimented clothes come from there) and an extra 25% off at Meijer. I got clothes not the best ever prices, but pretty close. I brought the stuff home and tried it on with the clothes I already had. I even took pictures.

Then I realized that after looking through my closet I could probably survive without these new clothes. I don't have a lot that fits well right now, but I can make it through a work week. We were told (all the teachers in the corporation) to dress more professionally. Most of us already do with me being one of them. I found these great clothes that were almost all work clothes and I would've worn them all many times. I returned almost every piece. I kept a couple of shirts since I have a ton of dress pants. I bought $90 worth of sale clothes (probably worth $150-$200 regular price) and returned over $70 worth of it.

I found out that I must really have a thing for knee length skirts. I have four of them right now. In the loot I bought and returned, I saw I had five of them. I always worried about wearing skirts since my students sit on the floor and I stand up and walk around them most of the time. It isn't the issue that I thought it would be. It is also much easier to find skirts that fit than pants. Alas, it doesn't matter since they all went back to the store.

I also worked on my motivation closet this weekend after seeing how I just need to get organized and work with the clothes I have for now. The sad part is a lot of the clothes I put into the motivation closet fit back at the end of last school year and they don't now. I can't wait to fit in them again and bring my smaller clothes back up out of the basement.



Before.

After.

I wore one of my new shirts today with a pair of old black pants. I accessorized with some earrings that were my grandma's (on my mom's side- she passed away a while ago) and a bracelet I got at Fashion Bug for I think $2.

My Day in Food and Exercise

 

 



Breakfast

Snack

Snack

Lunch

I had applesauce instead of a cookie.

Snack

A new to me flavor. It was okay but not my favorite.

Dinner

Turkey burger with a 40 calorie piece of colby jack, ketchup, mustard, and a whole wheat bun.

Snack

Don't worry- I didn't have the healthy stuff like the carrots. Just a doughnut. ;)

Exercise- mowing the yard

Biking, Gardening, and Shopping

I've finally went on my first bike ride(s) last week with the hubs. The weather has been nice enough to do this for some time, but I was doing the walking program before. I didn't have time to both bike and walk, especially when I was still working. Now that I'm free for the summer, I can and will do both when I feel like it. I've also decided to get some helpful accessories for my bike. I've installed a new LED head and tail light and a cheap bike computer. The lights work fine, but I can't get the computer to work yet, so I will be tweaking it some more. I bought a water bottle and cage, but I failed to measure if it would fit around my bike which it doesn't. I'm working on ways to tweak that too. I did get a basket for the front of my bike which I have yet to install. Maybe my water bottle can go there!

We stopped at my father-in-law's house. That is where I am eating this awesome home-grown raspberry.

Here is a sweet cherry.

I've also planted a small vegetable garden in the back yard. It was really tough work and I thought I was going to die of exertion and/or heat. I don't have a tiller or anyone that lives near me with one I can borrow. I had to dig up all of the grass by hand- just me, my shovel, and clay earth! Once that was done, it was easy sailing. I bought grown plants this year instead of growing them from seed like last year (and if you don't know- they all died in a late frost). I have four tomato plants, four green pepper plants, four green bean plants (would've done more if they had them at the store), two acorn squash plants, and three zucchini plants. I started putting up chicken wire around the garden since I'm paranoid that some animal might eat the plants, but I'm going to take it down. Here is what it looks like now...

A robin joined me practically the whole day day trying to get some worms.

This isn't my garden, but I did this on the same day. It is the side of my house and I spruced it up with some hanging plants and decorations.

I've also done some shopping with my friend Christine. We hit up the JCPenny "best price" sale that they have the first and third Friday of every month. They do have some great sales, and I found a bunch of things for this summer. I really try not to buy ahead for sizes that are far away from where I am now, because I have been having horrible luck guessing what season it will be when I get there. I try to buy things either a size down or slightly tight, so I have some motivation for now.

Since we were at the mall, we went to a few other stores such as Bath and Body works, the local hippie store, and Christopher & Banks. From the front Christopher & Banks looks old ladyish, but I did find a few cute things  in there such as these capris and this sweater.

We also went out to eat at T.J. Maloney's. I've never been there before, but Christine said the food was good. I got an Irish Cobb Salad which was huge and tasted awesome. We also split the Irish soda bread as "dessert."

The Work Week of May 14 - May 18

I have either been busy or exhausted just about every day this week, so that is why the posts have been lacking again. If you are a teacher or work in a school, then you know how crazy busy the end of the year can be. If you don't, now you know. ;)

Monday I stayed after work to get a bit done, maybe ran to the store, went out to eat with my father-in-law and hubby, went for a walk, and watched House. I've been thinking about how is it going to end all week and can't wait to see the last episode.

Tuesday I ran more errands after work and mowed the yard. No walk needed that night, because I get plenty of aerobic steps in push mowing the yard.

These pants are the ones I wore when I first started teaching, so I guess at least I've lost all the weight I've gained the past four to five years.

I look like a dork when I mow the yard. My allergies bother me so I cover up my eyes and wear a mask to minimize the allergens.

Wednesday was another busy day at work. We had a celebration assembly at work, because my school is the first school in the state of Indiana to be a PBIS model site. This means that our PBIS (an easy definition is that it is a system of rules and rewards for students) system meets all the criteria, is implemented throughout the school, the teachers are knowledgeable about the system and use it in their rooms, and students know what is expected of them. After work I took a walk and watched American Idol.

I love this watch!

Thursday I had a meeting with the other elementary music teachers in the corporation and the head library/media services person to learn some more about technology and how we would be using it with our adoption of electronic textbooks. I found out that my ELMO (a document camera) does some pretty cool things that I can't wait to try next year. That night I took another walk and watched American Idol. My favorites for these competition shows always seem to be the underdog and never make it to the finale. This year one of my three favorites made it to the finale. Go Phillip!

Friday I got quite a bit done at work, but nothing exciting to write about. Friday night wasn't all that exciting either.

I went grocery shopping after work. I also found a few fun things as well. My head was pounding so I didn't go on a walk. I relaxed and went to bed early.

A shirt I got on sale and with a coupon at Fashion Bug.

Some earrings that were less than $2 a pair!

I got the capris from Old Navy with a coupon of course!

As for the weight loss thing... My meals have been pretty good most of the week. My problem again is snacks. I've been eating the wrong kinds of snacks and too much for snacks. That will need to be my focus next week, so I can hopefully get close to 185 by the time my vacation rolls around.