You're Born to Shine

Last night as I was working out it was make over week on Biggest Loser. They were treated to a private concert by Ashanti. To be honest I had barely heard of her and could not tell you anything about her music but the song she sang seemed to have great lyrics. I did a google search to see what they were. What a inspirational song. Here are the lyrics; hope you enjoy.

They'll try to make you feel, that you're not good enough
You feel so incomplete, don't let them change you
Show this whole world that you were made to

Shine, they can't shut out your light, no matter how hard they try
They try, but they never can win, cause they can't stop what's inside
They'll try to take you, try to break you down, remember you are born to shine

Don't let them make you think, that you're not pretty enough
You're beauty runs so deep, so deep inside you
And you know that's the reason why you

Shine, they can't shut out your light, no matter how hard they try
They try, but they never can win, cause they can't stop what's inside
They'll try to take you, try to break you down, remember you are born to shine
There's a fire inside of you, that they can never, ever understand
Take that light and burn strong and bright and

Shine, they can't shut out your light, no matter how hard they try
They try, but they never can win, cause they can't stop what's inside
They'll try to take you, try to break you down, remember you are born to shine
They'll try to take you, try to break you down, remember you are born to shine
They'll try to take you, try to break you down, remember you are born to shine

You're born to (shine) you're born to (shine) said you're born to (shine)
You're born to (shine) you're born to (I said shine) you're born to (shine)
You're born to, you're born to, you're born to, you're born to, you're born to

Slim & Sassy

So my sister-in-law Shelley is a massage therapist and does a lot of holistic healing. She is always reading up on the new alternative medicines and has a ton of certificates in all sorts of naturopathic therapies. We tease her sometimes about being the witch doctor in the family but her methods seem to work for a lot of people so I go to her for a lot of things and respect her opinion. Her latest thing that she has really been into is essential oils. She has been using oils for a long time but she found a new company that makes a purer, safer oil. She is a distributor for the company Doterra which makes several different essential oils. Check it out at www.liveloveoils.com. I bought a basic kit over a year ago and use them occasionally. There is one for respiratory, inflammation, etc. Mostly I use the lemon oil in my water..so good.

Anyway, she brought me a little present to try. It is a new product called Slim & Sassy. I call it skinny and skanky because that's funnier. It is a blend of essential oils that you put in your water and drink. It is a blend of grapefruit, lemon, peppermint, ginger and cinnamon. I must say that it smells really good and just adds a nice flavor to your water. It is supposed to help manage hunger, calm your stomach and lift your mood. I figure, I may as well give it a try. It creates a healthy flavored water if nothing else. I'll keep you posted on my results.

Trying

So, the family is here visiting from Idaho and we have been enjoying their company. As expected there is definitely a lot more temptation too. I am making meals for dinner (last night was Baked Penne and tonight was healthy fish tacos) and today we went out to lunch. It is so hard to eat out and stay with in points range. I also received a fun package from my brother and sister in law. Included in the package was chocolate covered cinnamon bears. You can't find them here and I hadn't had any since Hudson was born when they sent him a package. They are so good. The bad news is that I indulged in a few, the good news is..that there were 5 additional family members here to help me eat them and they are now gone. They will not be hanging over my head anymore. Thanks Kim..they were delicious! The entire package they sent for the baby and us was so cute. Thank you..thank you. I had been craving those bears for over 2 years. I had also made a loaf of zucchini bread as a special treat for the family and have had to partake in that as well.
On the bright side, we all woke up this morning and went for a good walk in the neighborhood and conquered several hills. Then tonight at 10:30PM, I decided to jump on the treadmill for a quick walk-run interval of 35 minutes. I am being very conscious of what I am eating and easily could have eaten twice as many goodies as I have. So, while I am hating that I am not being perfect, I am not letting it get me down. Tonight, after I got off the treadmill, I led my sister in law Shelley and my niece Ashley in 50 leg lifts on each leg and 25 gluteal lifts. We will all be feeling it tomorrow. Also, for the record, I can still do the splits. I had to prove it tonight. haha. I'm just hoping for a loss this week...at least 2 pounds. Tomorrow we are planning to go for another walk and we will be home all day so I will be able to stay on point and within the point range.

Blog Award

So it is time for this month's Blog award! I am going to give it out at the first of every month to the person that I feel supported me the most that month. This month it goes to my niece Candace.

She has been so supportive! She calls me almost daily (which by the way, has to stop because my phone bill looked more like a car payment this month..haha), she posts comments on the blog and reads it regularly. She is encouraging, she believes in me and most of all, I know how much she loves me no matter how I look. She is a great neice and I wish that we lived closer. Thanks for everything Candace...love and miss you!

A small, dim light

Well, our memorial day was pretty uneventful. We are having company come into town tomorrow and we were trying to get everything ready for their arrival. Mostly just did hunny-do lists. We got a new tile shower put in though and it is AWESOME! We were really busy everyday so my exercise has been lacking but I plan to get with it today. I am so excited to start C25K. It is only 3 days per week, 30 minutes per day. I still plan to exercise on the off days as well but looking forward to the challenge as I have gotten pretty comfortable just getting on the treadmill at 3.0-3.5 and walking. I will have to be pretty creative to figure out how to get my exercise in when the company is here. We have some fun excursions planned that include physical activity and on the other days I will just try to get in at least 30 minutes on the treadmill.

I am still feeling really great. Usually by now I have lost motivation. I really think I owe my motivation to my blog. I watched a news video the other day about "shame based dieting", it was about people posting their weight on facebook or blogging about their diet. The good news is that they said that it works! Here is a link to the video http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37395783#37350979

I am going to try and add to my blog what I have been eating. Most of the time it isn't that interesting but might keep me more accountable to my diet.

Even with my small gain last week, I don't feel like quitting. I feel like I can do it, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is a small, dim light but it gets brighter every day. I want to take time again to thank all of my followers. I appreciate all the comments, texts, emails, and phone calls! It really does keep me going. I am surprised at how well some of my friends are following. Another Blog award may have to be coming soon!

Before and Updated Picture

So here is a picture of me two days before I had the baby. I know I am pregnant so it is cheating by having this as my before picture, however you should still be able to see all the additional weight that I carried in my arms, legs and face.

Here is a picture taken today. 40 pounds down, almost half way to my goal. I still have a long ways to go but happy with the progress.

Weight Watcher results: Week 7

“Edison failed 10, 000 times before he made the electric light. Do not be discouraged if you fail a few times.”

So, I'm not happy about my half pound weight gain this week but I know that I didn't cheat on my diet and I still exercised 5x this week. I can't beat myself up too bad. Even people on the Biggest Loser have no loss in certain weeks. I will not get discouraged! I will not give up. In the words of one of the BL contestants, Sam, "I will not let the number on the scale define me". I know how I hard I worked. So another week begins today. I am actually really proud of myself, 7 weeks! and the best part about it is I'm not even considering to quit. I know this week will be difficult with family visiting but I am determined to have a weight loss. Now that my legs are on there way to recovery, I am going to start the C25K (Couch Potato to 5K) program this week. It is interval training (walk-run) and is supposed to maximize weight loss.

Last night I was up at 3:30AM feeding the baby and quickly checked my email. I had a notice that my friend who I began this journey with had updated her blog. I read her update. She is having problems with tendonitis in her achilles and has been experiencing lots of pain while exercising. Since she is unable to burn as many calories working out she is going to try to go on a stricter diet plan. I am losing my "weight watchers" buddy, however I am not losing a weight loss buddy. She has decided to reduce her carbs and quit weight watchers in order to accomodate her goals. I wish her lots of luck and plan to continue doing weekly weigh-ins with her.

I go back to work on July 5th. I will be working 3 days a week. That is only 6 weeks away! I have 14.2 pounds to lose in order to meet my goal of being 199 by the time I return to work. That means I need to lose about 2.5 pounds per week which means I can not slack in any area, I need to watch my diet to a tee, drink my water and work out regularly. I know that I can do it! I better go make my breakfast and hit the treadmill.