Joining the Gym

I think I am going to join the gym. They just built a new National Fitness Center in Maryville and I think that I would utilize it. Over the past year working out with Tammye I have gotten into the habit of working out and I enjoy it. Now that I am not working during the day I can actually have the luxury of going to the gym. So here is the scoop of why I am making this decision; and trust me it was a hard one to make.

1) When I go to the gym in the evenings, it leaves Travis with the kids at night for several hours because of the driving, workout, chatting with friends, driving. I am also away from home about one night a week for CPR class and usually one other night I have some sort of meeting, group activity or social planned. This means that 2-4 times a week I am not home at night.

2) Because I go to a private gym for my training we don't have a gym membership which means that I am the only one that gets to workout. Travis needs to workout too and would like to get back into a workout regime. I have been selfish about my goals and not concerned about his.

3) The gym that I go do does not have childcare. This makes it impossible for me to workout during the day unless I hire a babysitter which costs $25 which makes my one hour workout cost $30 instead of $5.

4) Joining the gym gives me an immediate workout partner...Travis.

5) I just cancelled my bodybugg membership and my weight watcher memberships. I know how to lose weight I just need to do it. This should allow me to be able to hopefully still workout with Tammye on Wednesdays and attend Weekend Warrior.

The bad part about all of this is that I won't be able to see Tammye as much. I have loved my time with her and she has been the best trainer that a girl could ask for. I have been working out with her for just over a year and I have gotten so much stronger! I still plan to workout with her but maybe not quite as often. I can only hope that I can put to use all of the things that she has taught me. If I could do both, I totally would. I am her #1 fan and hope that I can be a true testament of her hard work and dedication to me.

Hopefully I can even send her some new clients. I really do love my workout girls and I know that the current situation is probably absolutely the best for me but I am going to have to sacrifice my own desires for my family. Hopefully as the kids get older this might get easier.

Gluttony: One of the 7 deadly sins

I don't know what has been going on with me lately but I have seriously been gluttonous. I have totally been binging on sugar & snacks. I wake up every morning telling myself that today will be a new today....START today. I make it until like noon. Then I start hitting the snacks. The problem is that we shouldn't even have these snacks in the house but I do have them for my kids. I try to give them to them sparingly but I have to admit that I do have them. Travis is the worst. He starts seeing Halloween candy in August and starts throwing in bags of snickers to the shopping cart.

Oh, how I have sinned. In the last week I have had peanut butter crackers, mini Snickers, fruit snacks, pudding cups, cheese-its, trail mix, cookies and even a pop tart. You would think that right now I would be more motivated than ever. I am headed to Idaho in two weeks to sing at my cousins wedding. I am going to be standing in front of all those people. Have I mentioned that most of my family resemble super models? I feel like I am self sabotaging; yet I don't know why. I truly don't.

So yet another day begins and I will say this is a new day. Confession: I weighed and yesterday I saw 178, this is 10 pounds higher than my lowest weight this year. It is disgusting that I have let this happen. Maybe I can get good and shed 5 before the wedding. I must start now. I can't tell you how embarrassing it is to have a weight loss blog and be gaining weight. That is why I haven't been blogging. I know I need to go back to my accountability.

It is sad that it can take a month to get the weight off, yet it seems to come back in just days.

Dieting & Budgeting

There are lots of gimmick diets out there. Quit eating this and start eating that. Abstain for this, eat so much of that. They are not a lifestyle that you can maintain. While visiting Idaho I was having a conversation about diets and had to defend weight watchers though. I don't think it is a gimmick and this is why.

Do you balance your check book? Do you check your accounts regularly? Do you think that this is a gimmick to maintain a lifestyle of fiscal responsibility? Do you have a budget or plan for big expenses? Most people do. So what is my point?

Well, weight watchers is a lot like budgeting. It allows you to eat anything you want but to keep in check. It encourages you to write down what you eat just like most keep track of what they spend. It gives you a budget of what to eat allowing you to eat healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables more regularly while it discourages your from eating foods full of sugar and fats. It lets you budget more foods if they have more fiber because fiber is kind of like a coupon. It encourages you to create this way of eating as a lifestyle and it can be a lifestyle.

Nothing on weight watchers is extreme and it has been proven year after year that out of all the weight loss programs it is most effective in the long term. I agree that it has to be a lifestyle change but most of us can not make huge changes in our life with out a guide. Putting your money in envelopes for different items is kind of like putting your weight watcher points in check. The flex points and activity points are also like financial budgeting. The flex points allows you to spend food more for the special occasion. It is the rainy day fund so that you are prepared. Activity points are like a savings account. It is a way for you to make points and save them for later.

I agree that a lifestyle change is essential but just like having a plan or a budget to live with in your means I think that weight watchers is the best plan out there to help you budget your foods and teach you to live with in your food needs.

A great trip

We had a really great trip to Idaho. We celebrated my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary, we got family pictures taken, floated the dry bed, explored grand teton national park, went swimming/watersliding at the Jackson Hole Rec Center, Hiked in Yellowstone, etc...

I did do some exercise. Here is the real exercise that I did..and it's not much.
1) 3 mile bike ride
2) 1 hour zumba
3) Short strenous hike (328 stairs)
4) Swam 150 meters fast

Other than that it was just lots of walking, bowling, party set-up and daily activities. I had planned to do more but the time just got away from us.

I definitely did not drink enough water on this trip. Mostly because I love ice cold water and I had no access to ice for 90% of trip. We ate out a few too many times. Rigby, Idaho is famous for a little pizza pocket called the "Bambino", needless to say we had them a couple times. There were lots of yummy baked goods too.

I SCREWED UP! I didn't mean to but I have came home heavy. Back on the bandwagon I must go! I saw this picture and it made me gag. My cousin in law recently blogged about a new term "Bleg". It is when you but runs into your leg and has no definition. Think cankle but for your butt/thigh area. I have some serious bleg going on! Must get control.

1 step forward, 2 steps back

Sadly I am here to report that I have gained a lot of weight! This evening I weighed 175. I feel like this entire year has been me taking one step forward and two steps back. Why can't I seem to keep going forward. The food portion of this is killing me. I love yummy food and I am totally addicted to carbs. I just can't seem to kick it. I think I have lost my way though. I have not been telling myself that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels".

I did some self awareness during our trip and what I have discovered is that I have a lot of stress about my self worth, value and....I am not sure why. I think it is in my subconscious but it is there. I spend a lot of time focusing on how I look and how I look makes me feel a certain way. I am trying to take some steps to help correct this behavior.

One thing I am doing is similar to self hypnosis. I know it sounds crazy but really what it is...is stating your goals and stating how you feel and how you want to feel and listening to it every day. People that write their goals, say their goals, etc..meet their goals. I am going to try and rally Travis too. I need his help and support.

On Vacation

Didn't want you all to think I have forgotten about you. We are on vacation to Idaho till Sept 11th. It was my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary and we have enjoyed getting to spend time with family and celebrate. We are headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and to Yellowstone National Park for the weekend.

I have been trying to do some exercise everyday but there is lots of tempting foods to eat. I have been drinking green smoothies for breakfast. I'll be sure to have a post all about them soon.

NASCAR

I had lost another pound last week and finally saw 167. Sadly, I don't think I am there any longer. Saturday we were wined and dined by Fed Ex at the Bristol Nascar Race. I swear all they did was feed us. While I didn't eat all of this stuff, this is what they had for us.

1PM Chicken Tenders, Fruit & Chips

3PM Hotdogs, Chicken Wings

6PM Ribs, Beef tips, scalloped potatoes, macaroni salad, rolls

7PM Apple carmel cheese cake

9PM Nachos, little wieners, and pretzels

All day: M&Ms, Peanuts, Open alcohol bar and unlimited soda/water

Um..that sums that up. I literally felt sick from eating when we left. Other than the day being a total diet sabotage; it was an amazing day and experience. Let me start this by saying that I am not a NASCAR fan, I have never watched a race on TV and have really had no interest in attending a race. Yet, Travis had gotten these tickets from Fed Ex and I knew that it would be a once in a life time experience and I am ALL ABOUT THOSE!

We arrived at Fed Ex at 12:30 and got on a coach bus which had a police escort to the race track. It was great. We went through all the traffic, every red light, and arrived in style. As soon as we got there we were greeted by golf carts that picked us up and took us up to the suite. When we arrived at the suite we were given a gift bag. It was filled with a large fed ex replica car and a small hot wheels style Bristol race track car. It also had a fed ex hat and drawstring backpack.

We had some lunch and then we were greeted by Cory. Cory was our personal escort. Only 6 of us there had VIP hot passes and he was our guide for the day. We got back on our golf cart and went down to the track. There we met the crew, saw the race car up close, walked the track and got an insiders view of the hauler. The hauler is not a typical semi. It has a small kitchen, a living room and tons of parts, pieces and technology. That is the one thing that I found so interesting. When you think of NASCAR the first thought is a bunch of rednecks but what I found is that the Fed Ex team has a team of engineers, scientists and business men to create what happens on race night.

Cory, our escort was in charge of marketing and had an MBA from Vanderbilt. One of the things he does is place the sponsor stickers on the car. I guess there is a big strategy to it. :)

After our tour we went back up to the suite where we met the driver, Denny Hamlin, and he talked to us about racing and his day. Inside the car it can get anywhere from 140-200 degrees. He autographed our cars and we got professional pics taken with him. About an hour later we met Coach Gibbs the owner of the racing team. He is a retired NFL coach and has won 3 superbowls and had the ring to prove it. He also talked about racing and did autographs and professional pics.

From there we took our private golf cart back to the track. We watched all the driver's introductions and then joined our driver at his car for the National Anthem. We were lined up by the driver and watched the fireworks and jets fly by. Then we were off to the pits. There we were given a set of earplugs and a large set of ear muff headphones. These headphones had several different channels where you could listen to the drivers talking to their teams and then we had a small handheld TV where you could watch the camera's that are inside the cars.

We watched the first 125 laps from the pits. I was sitting right next to the crew chief. Inside the pits was intense! Watching the race that close and seeing the pit stops really was incredible. It took them about 15 seconds to round the track and about 15 seconds to change 4 tires and fill the car up with gas. When the tires come off they are almost 200 degrees. We finished the race in the suite and enjoyed watching the close finish.

It was an amazing experience and a fun day. It also was one of the first times that me and Travis had that much time together. We left at 9am and actually didn't get home till about 2:30am. A big thanks to our two babysitters that made this all happen. We go on date nights but never have we had more than 12 hours of just the two of us. This was bitter sweet. While we totally enjoyed our selves and had a great time...I could only think the entire day about how much my little boy would have loved it. He is obsessed with cars and this would have been his dream day. Maybe when he gets a little older we will have to take him!