Weigh In, Picture Update, Measurement update

Well, it's been longer than I've wanted.

Now that I have a new computer, I've been "cleaning" my old one, and that's taken slightly more time and headache than I'd like to admit. Have been technically challenged these last few days.

I have not been tracking my food.

There, it's out. I have the same thing happening to me with journals throughout the years. I start strong, and then let it slide, and then I quit altogether.

I have actually been thinking, "I should just quit!" I'll do better next time! What a lie!

There won't be a next time, because I'm not quitting and restarting. I'm continuing!

I'll get my motivation back somehow, and I'll get used to the work that's involved in weight loss.

I will not give up!

And yes, I'm trying to convince myself!

Now for my Weigh In!
Beginning weight:      279 lbs
Last week's weight:  252.6 lbs
Today's weight:        251.9 lbs

This weeks loss: 0.7 lbs

I just watched The Biggest Loser for the first time the other day. Wow, is it always that emotional? I couldn't believe some of the weigh-in's. They were huge! Of course, that's the only thing they do all day, right?
Well, I thought it was quite interesting!

My measurements didn't look so great this month. :(

Either I had a different measuring tape this time or I really did increase slightly on every single measurement.
So not very motivating, because that's where we want to see it, right?

Here's my update pictures:

And something to compare that with:

Yikes! That is kinda scarey!

Have a great week!

Casey

Progress Photos - Oops

These are Joseph's Progress photos! Just a week shy of 4 years old!

Mine are coming tomorrow!

Hugs, Casey

Weigh In! Week 17

Well, it's been a busy week!

I have put my 3 kids in school.

I've had a birthday party for my now 6 year old.

I've gone back and forth over whom to hire to do our kitchen. We finaly made a choice this afternoon and they will come over within the next week or so to take all the measurements. I pray we made the right decision! We've only got a certain amount we want to spend, so we will try to build according to our budget!
I'm looking forward to it being done.

Instead of reading alot of random blogs this week, I decided to take one, go back to the beginning and just read the whole thing. So I chose Alissa's blog, and it has really put some things in perspective for me. She has been so patient and perseverant in her weight loss journey! I am inspired! I find that I can relate to alot of the struggles she had at the beginning of her journey, and it gives me hope that she didn't give up, but is still at it and losing weight, even in the third year of tracking.

I so admire you, Alissa! I love the way you write, I love that your husband encourages you and that you SO love your family. You encourage in more ways that weight loss, you know! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and comment too. It means alot to me!

And thanks to all the others who take an interest in my weight loss journey. I love reading your blogs, but am a little shy when it comes to commenting. I'll do better, I promise.

Now for my WI!
Beginning weight:      279 lbs
Last week's weight:  253.7 lbs
Today's weight:        252.6 lbs

So, I'm down 1.1 lbs! Happy about that, but I know that I have not been doing good with the eating!
I'm hoping for some time tomorrow morning where I can just sit down and get a menu planned. I am so open to ideas! What works for you???

Exercise has been good! I continue to run the C25K, week 9, even though I'm officially graduated. I really can't take more time than those 40 minutes to exercise, so I'll just keep doing that and alternate with cardio on other days.

This afternoon, I started my Gym Class - (do you still call it Aerobics? That sounds so 80´s) and we have a new instructor. I liked the exercise part. It wasn't easy, so that means good workout, right? Hope she finds out how to do a playlist though, because she kept having to go back and forth to her MP3 player and press "next" or something. But like I said - good workout - lots of sweat!

One thing I didn't like though, was that the ladies from the next class she had, came up to watch us finish our class. They are the "advanced" group, and I felt so uncomfortable having them watch us. That's why we don't go to the second class... we don't want these skinny ladies watching us. I'm sure they are not laughing at us, but could they just politly stay downstairs until our class is done? Please?! (Yeah, none of them are reading this either!)

We have been having some really wonderful rains here lately and are always thankful for the water. There are two minor inconveniences as far as I'm concerned though! Muddy roads and Mosquitos! That's a challenge when I'm out walking/running!

Have a great week everyone, and if you have any ideas on the menu planning, I'd be really grateful!

Casey

It's Monday! Weigh In Time!

Not so excited about WI this week! Yes TOM influences even my weigh in's, but to be perfectly honest, this week has been... well, difficult in the eating department!

Beginning weight:      279 lbs
Last week's weight:  251.7 lbs
Today's weight:        253.7 lbs

YIKES! thats a 2 lbs gain and I don't like it!

On a positive note... I need one more run to finish the C25K program! Tomorrow I'll do day three of week 9 and then I've officially graduated! Yeah!

 Also a friend lent me her Taebo DVD and I did that one morning instead of running.

It was quite different than what I'm used to, but it was fun, and my kids thought it was hilarious. My almost 6 year old "helped" me finish, because he wanted to finish watching the "boxing man".

After my run yesterday.

The next 5 weeks bring us 3 of our kids birthdays! Lots of cake will be around, among other yummy birthday food. Lots of opportunies to plan my eating, which I haven't been doing for  a while, lots of opportunities to practice self-control and dicipline.

Tomorrow is Stevie's 6th birthday! We´ll have a party for him on Friday afternoon, since tomorrow is also the first day of school!!!

I am REALLY looking forward to school! Not the helping with homework part or nagging about music practice part, but the part where I have the mornings all to myself. I still have our youngest home with me, so I won't be lonely. Our kids leave the house at about 6:40 in order to start class at 7 sharp. They have school till 11:30 and then come home for lunch and they are done for the day. Stevie will need to be picked up from his Kindergarten every day at 10:45, haven't found anyone to carpool with yet.

Looking forward to having some time alone to be planning my menu's and deep-cleaning my house.

And... if all goes well, planning my new kitchen!

Have a great week!
Casey

Vacation Post and Pictures

This is a map of Paraguay. Sorry, it's small... We live in a town called Filadelfia. Asunción is the capital city and we can usually do the 475 km in about 5 hours with potty break included. Our destination was Ayolas, another 320 km down south of Asunción.

The Yacyretá Dam or Hydroelectric Power Plant is located near this town. And this is what my Dad really wanted to see - so we took them. The first part of our trip we were in seperate cars, and then for our trips inland, we just took our SUV.

I love when trips begin this way! Our girls were in Grampa's truck and the boys slept halfway for about two and a half hours! What a blessing!

It rained quite a bit while driving down to Asunción, but the sunrise - spectacular, as always!

About 40 km east of Asunción is an Ostrich farm. We see alot of  ostriches in the Chaco (northern part of Paraguay) but these are African Ostriches, being bred and raised here. They are a LOT bigger than our native ostriches.

My girls took many sky pictures!

Besides breeding the ostriches for feathers, meat and eggs, they also sell the leather and make beautiful pieces of art from eggs and even pieces of egg (jewlery). Next to the silluete egg theres an egg on a stand that will be etched and then made into a lamp

Here's my pedicure at the beach!

My kiddos! They love the water. I wish we had more of it up here! Of course this picture was taken before anyone fell in!

Mom and Dad

  

This was taken at the Taiwanese Gardens. (Expo Flora) Just seeing all this green is like an oasis for us drought weary souls. A little background - northern Paraguay - called the Chaco, is often plagued by drought. So we love rain - any day any time. The Southeastern region has a  more tropical climate and is lush and green. Just what we needed to see.





These Mango were huge! And cheap. You could get 5 for one dollar! We didn't get any here because my daughter is allergic to them and we didn't want them in the car with us the whole way. We did buy some on the way back though.

This beach is at the Tebicuary River. It's about halfway to Ayolas.

Finally in Ayolas! This is our hotel. It's pretty old and when we stayed here last year it was pretty run down. They did a bunch of renovations - including the plumbing in our room (we stayed in the same room!)

We're actually on our way back up from the river here. It's a really steep bank that goes down right in front of the hotel.

A branch off of the Parana River. The river itself is very wide and actually has many islands thoughout.

What else would we eat here but barbequed fish? Yummmmm

The next three pictures are of Yacyretá - Our pictures didn't turn out very well because of the rain, so these are borrowed from wikipedia!

 

We did have a really good time though. We played...

We slept...

And we laughed! Especially when we saw this old goat!

Now that we're back home I´m craving some routine in my life.

I finally got the boys room totally cleaned up - toys sorted, curtains washed and rehung, clothes sorted and I even rearranged the furniture. I've been going through it slowly, but I think what works better for me is to just finish it already . So I did. I feel much better now. Next up is the girls room, and when everyone (except Joseph) is in school next week, my room! Oh and I didn't actually finish painting the border in the boys room yet, so that gets done when the kids are in school, too!

Have a great week!

Casey

Weigh In and Vacation Pic's

Hello everyone!
We've been back from our vacation a few days and I´ve been super-tired! Yup, I felt like I needed another vacation - but one all by myself!
Before I share my pic's and some vacation details, weigh-in!!!
I posted my weight on the 28th of Jan, and since that was not a weigh-in day I didn't change it on my side-bar. I didn't weigh in at all while we were gone, and so was wondering what the scale would tell me when we got home. It was exectly the same - and this at the end of a really long driving day. The next morning it showed even less, and I'm happy, happy, happy to post that today's WI showed 251.7 lbs!
That's a 2.9 lbs loss in 2 weeks - WHILE ON VACATION!!!
Yeah!!!
And I passed my 10% loss mark!
Can't wait to get out of the 250's!
And I enjoyed my vacation with a bit of fast food - ice cream - chips and pop! Not everyday, not alot, but just enough to satisfy my "want". I was aware of what I was eating, and knew when to stop - it was like I was a whole other person!
My friend and I got up at 5 a few mornings, because that's when she goes for her 60 minute walk. Uphill, downhill, humid temp's, lots of sweat, and lots of visiting, just the two of us. Blessed times!
Our summer vacation time is coming to an end though. Three of our four kids will be in school next week. I love having my kids home, but school helps me with routine! I do much better when I have a routine!
As far as our trip went, it was great. I was so disappointed we didn't get to go see our waterfall though, but it was pouring for most of the day and there didn't seem to be alot of hotel choices there. We´ll have to go again when our kids are on their winter break - in July.
Since we took my parents with us, we did alot of things that my husband knew would be interesting for them.
This is how we started our trip:

My kids prepared their footwear the night before. They were so ready to go!

Ok, for some reason I can't add more than one picture. Will try to put more up tomorrow.
Have a great day!
Casey