3 Things to keep me going

This weekend I had 3 great things happen to me:

1) A person at church came up to me and said "wow, you are like melting away"...felt nice to have the compliment and for someone to say something

2) I ran into my grandparents at the grocery store, I was wearing my new 14 jeans and a new shirt. My grandma immediately said "Wow Cheryl you're really starting to look like your trimming up. Look at her Russ (my grandpa) can't you tell she is losing weight"...This is huge! My grandma rarely says much about my weight loss. It was kind of aggravating cause it seemed like when I was gaining we talked about it every time I saw them but when I start losing no one said anything. It was just nice to know that they both could tell.

3) A friend at church told me that she had a dream about me that I got down to my goal weight and was "super smokin hot"....I hope that her dreams come true!

Almost.....

Well I didn't quite make my goal but I am still really happy. I lost 5 pounds in 15 days. That is still a lot so I am not going to pout. I am just going to leave 179 written on my arm and shoot for it next week!

I have been sick. Sunday I didn't leave the couch all day and didn't move much yesterday either. Really bums me out cause I am so excited to try out my new shoes and the weather has been so great. I hope I am getting better. For now the plan is to work out with my ladies and Tammye on Thursday night and then again on Saturday for "Power Hour".

Confession: My treadmill has cobwebs on it. Well, not literally but I have not been on it in forever. I have done the "Shred" videos and the circuits at home but my cardio has really slacked off. My goal for this week is to get on treadmill at least 3 times, even if it's only for 20 minutes. I've just got to find my groove again. I did have a friend that has an eliptical and we talked about trading for 90 days. She is burned out from it. I thought this was a great idea. Don't you remember when you were a kid and you got a new pair of roller blades, you roller bladed 24-7 for several weeks, then you don't wear them for months...well I thought that if I got something new that I might get excited about it again. I'll keep you posted on how my 3 days go and if or if not I do the trade.

A good day

So yesterday was a good day. The weather was beautiful, in the 60s and we enjoyed a day at the park with the kids. Had a babysitter for the night so got to enjoy a dinner a Pei-Wei and some kid free grocery shopping and shoe shopping. I have not bought a new pair of tennis shoes in like 5 years. The last pair I bought was a pair of ASICS and I have never been happy with them. They squeeze my foot, the laces were not long enough, etc and they made my feet look like "The Hobbits"...short and stumpy. Nevertheless, I have been needing new shoes badly. Several of my friends that are avid runners or exercise enthusiast have sworn by a brand called Saucony. Hudson has had a pair of them and they seem to be good shoes. The man at the shoe store was very convincing as well. I have the weirdest feet. My right foot is a narrow-regular 5.75 and my left is a regular-wide 6.5, this can make shoe purchases a little interesting. So after running laps around the store, calls to friends, and more I ended up with these. While I don't wear very much pink, all my workout pants are black or gray so I am thinking these will look pretty sharp. I am very excited to try them out. Wish I could today but the whole family is under the weather. We all have colds and slept really crappy last night. Sad, since it is 65 degrees outside. It would of been fun to go to the zoo (half off prices in the winter) today. Oh well.

Another great thing happened yesterday! I bought my first pair of 14 jeans in probably 10 years. I had bought the 16s last week and they were loose. I was skeptical about the 14s but just bought them without trying them on. I assumed that I would have to really squeeze into them but it would keep me motivated. However, when I got home and put them on, they just slid right on, no problems at all. Hence, they do have quite a bit of stretch to them but I didn't even have to do my regular 10 squats to stretch them out. They fit just right, brand new, never stretched. Made my day. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get Travis to take my picture wearing them. Not looking so hot today since not feeling well.

I am worried about my goal of 179, I am going to post weight on Feb 1. I don't think I am going to make it and it has been very discouraging. I worked out on Monday but was so sore that I took two days off, we had our trip to Chattanooga, date night, etc. However, I know I'll be posting a loss and that is what really matters. Slow and steady wins the race right? The good news about slow and steady is that it has been proven that those that lose weight this way by making lifestyle changes instead of some get quick fix have a lower chance of gaining it all back and their skin does better where you don't have as much excess. I am just going to celebrate a loss; I am keeping my 179 written on my arm until I attain it though!

Whoever Wants to Reach a Distant Goal Must Take Small Steps

Someone once said, "Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take small steps". I think this is so true. So now, I am trying to set small daily goals. I am sharing my daily goals with the other local Biggest Loser contestants and challenging them to do the same. Today the goal was to drink 64oz and do 500 jumping jacks through out the day. Done! Last night I had done a tough leg workout with my trainer so doing the jacks was actually hard but hopefully it will help with my soreness tomorrow. I did 50 jacks every half hour.

I am going to try and set small little goals like this every day for the group. Please submit a comment or email slimdogmillionaires@gmail.com if you have any ideas for the daily goal and I will try and incorporate them.

Goal for tomorrow...do 100 pushups through out the day and don't eat anything after 7PM. (I think the 64oz of water should be every day)

Pop!!

Mmm...I have discovered PopChips. They are super yummy and all natural. They are not fried or baked but popped! They come in several different flavors and a serving size is 23 chips. These are 120 calories of pure deliciousness. They have zero saturated fat, zero trans fat, no artificial flavors or colorings, and no preservatives.

I don't see them at Walmart but Target and Kroger (Fred Meyer) has them. You should give them a try. They actually taste good and aren't like one of those gross baked chips. Let me know what you think and share your favorite snacks.

Fat girls don't wear True Religion

So just in case you were wondering True Religion jeans are only for girls with a 24-32 inch waist. Well, since last time I measured my waist it was like 40" that means I won't be getting a pair anytime soon. For the past 10 years I have been wearing the tried and true Levis. I always get the bootcut, mid rise, with a little stretch. I have also bought a few pairs of Old Navy jeans but don't think I have even bought those for the past 5 years. Well, all my jeans are old, are about to get holes in the legs from my huge thighs rubbing together and they are all too big. I was in desperate need of new pair. Since I am planning on slimming down even more though, I wasn't willing to spend much.

I had seen several commercials for the Riders by Lee jeans which instantly slim you. I was a little skeptical about buying my jeans at Walmart but this post is to tell you that I love them! For $18.95 I got myself a new pair of comfortable, flattering jeans. The good news is that these come in sizes 4-30 and also come in petite (short), reg and long. The other good news is that when I bought them I was in a big hurry and I quickly just picked up a size 16. I am going to keep them since they are comfy however I am going back to get one more pair and to get a size 14 because these are too big! Yippee!

Stacy London from "What not to Wear" is the promoter of these new Lee jeans. I was ordering my 14s online and was reading some of her tips. One of them that I found super funny & some helpful. She says "A common style pitfall for an apple shaped woman is wearing a jean that is too low in the rise. If the waistband of the jean sits too low, the tummy spills out over the top of the pant. Not a good look. Keep the muffin in the pan!"

These jeans have stretch which is nice, they have a mid-rise tummy control panel, are boot cut and have a no-gap waist! If you're looking for a cheap pair of jeans you should check them out.

Family Fun Weekend

It has been a while since we had a family fun weekend so this weekend we planned a trip to Chattanooga, TN. It is only about 1 hr & 45 minutes away and has quite a bit to offer. There are lots of things to do there in the summer but in the winter it is hard to find things. Chattanooga is home to the Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discover Children's Museum. We left Saturday morning around 10AM and spent Saturday at the aquarium, spent the night in a hotel and took the kids swimming in their heated indoor pool, and then today we spent the day at the children's museum. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast. Even the baby had fun looking at all the fish and playing. Our friends Karen, Dusting and their daughter Brianna met us Saturday for lunch and the aquarium.

While we had a great time and it was fun to get away it is so hard to stay good on a diet! When you eat out, you don't know exactly how many calories are in things and you feel like since you are on vacation that it is okay to cheat a little. When we first got there I had a half of a grilled chicken sandwich and a cup of clam chowder. The part that really killed me though was the room service we got once heading back to the hotel. We were all tired from a long day at the aquarium, it was cold outside and we decided that it would be too hard to pack everyone up to go out to eat again. I scanned the room service menu. It was a little pricey and I didn't want to spend too much. The only things very reasonable were the sandwiches. I had already had a grilled chicken for lunch so the only other thing that sounded good was a hamburger. It said it came with garlic aioli. Well my friend Jordan makes these awesome veggie paninis with garlic aioli. They are so yummy. When I read the menu and saw that the burger came with aioli I just couldn't resist. So I ordered it. Travis had the same. The part that really pissed me off though......is that if it had any aioli on it, I couldn't taste and or see it. So I wasted all those calories and didn't even really get what I wanted. Tonight I plan to shred it off.

So this week is the big week to hit the 179! It is going to be very tough, as I had said, it is very lofty! However, I am going to try my hardest. I already told Travis what the 4 goals are and that he is to hold me accountable.
1) Shred it video everyday
2) 2-32 oz Nalgenes of water per day
3) Constant wear of the Bodybugg
4) Track all points with weight watchers on phone and do not go over daily allotment

Travis is supposed to check and make sure that I do all of these things each day!