Bleh monday

Up .8 today. That's annoying, but it could have been a lot worse. Excellent weekend with too much fun and not quite as much working out as I thought I did. :) It certainly could have turned out worse. A shoutout to Katrina for an awesome milestone today. She crashed through the 275 barrier and I'm so proud of her. I'm going to update this post later today with measurements, I think. Hope I'm reshaping my body. It would be nice, since I hurt every post workout. :P

Everyone keep pounding away and we'll all get to healthy together.

start of MILI
Weight: 362.6

Chest: 59

Waist: 56.5

Hips: 51

Arms: 15" (left) and 17.5" (right)

Thighs: 25" (left) and 25" (right)

Today:
Weight: 359.0 (-3.6)

Chest: 59 (0.0)

Waist: 55.5 (-1.0)

Hips: 51 (-0.0)

Arms: 16.5" (left) and 17.0" (right) (-1.0) Nope I don't get it either. Yay symmetry.

Thighs: 24.5" (left) and 25" (right) (-0.5)

Total, -3.6 pounds, -2.5 inches

Mamavation Monday - Breaking Through.

Wow, I am so late in writing this post but I...nope, I don't have a super good reason. That's ok, though. Sometimes things happen at a different time and it's for whatever reason that it is.

*grins* Ok, I'm tired. I admit it and when I'm tired my posts sometimes make no sense at all. If that's what happens here, I beg your forgiveness and tolerance. Just leave me some oddly funny or bizarre comment and we'll be even. ;)

I just had the most wonderful awesome and fantastic weekend. Justin flew in on Friday and we went to Toledo for the weekend. We got to see great people perform a shadowcast of Repo: The Genetic Opera and then went and had the privilege of hanging out at the amazing Chris and Lauren's house. It was so good to just be in the company of friends being silly. Don't get me wrong, I have the brainiac side of life too but sometimes you just want to be able to relax and not feel the pressure that being a geek brings.  The best part is that after the masses leave, you never know where the conversation might lead.

Saturday was super fantastical too. We slept too late, had breakfast and rushed back to Chris and Lauren's. Lauren cut my hair like the pro she is and we got to have a wonderful lunch out with their family. Afterwards, the rest of the day was ours so we went back to the hotel and hit the pool. Maybe I ought to say the pool hit us! The chlorine level was so high in the pool that when I rinsed out Justin's shorts (which are old and have been washed a billion times), they were dripping purple dye. Ewww!

You know what, my brain is scrambled right now. The truth is..we had an amazing weekend and now that it's done, I'm struggling today. Our times together are so amazing that I want to spend the rest of my life with him and knowing that it will probably be close to 4 months until I see him again tears me up. Leaving him at the airport yesterday broke my heart and I could barely drive away.

What does this all lead to? A crudload of emo eating..mindless shoving of food in my face so that I'm distracted from the gaping hole in my heart by filling the much smaller one in my stomach. I'm not going to lie to you. I ate an entire pizza last night over the course of 7 hours. I'm not proud of it, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it, either. It happened. Today, I'll be a little bit stronger and I won't do that.

Short summary? The weekend together was heaven. The time with our friends (because now they're his friends too) was wonderful. The kick ass boots he bought me? In the words of the sales girl? They look epic on me. The desperate kisses at the airport? Slightly tragic. The drive home? miserable. Today? A new day. A new chance. The scale? See below.

My numbers?

Average Daily Water Intake: 75oz (doing better!)

Workouts: 3000 step challenge x2 days + Pool time + 1mile on an exercise bike
Weight Change: 274.6 (-0.6 pounds)
Overall Weight Change: -17 pounds

After 2 week challenge/at start of MILI:

Weight: 276.8 (really 276.4 but I'm going with the scale picture for this) -1.6 pounds

Chest: 48"

Waist: 40.75" -4.75"

Hips: 54.5" 

Arms: 18" (left) and 17" (right) -1" and -.5"

Thighs: 27" (left) and 27.5" (right) -1" and -1.5"

Grand Total Change: -1.6 pounds and -8.75"

At halfway point of MILI:

Weight: 274.6 -2.2 pounds

Chest: 48" 

Waist: 40.25" -0.5"

Hips: 54.0"  -0.5"

Arms: 18" (left) and 16" (right) -0" and -1.0"

Thighs: 27" (left) and 27" (right) -0" and -0.5"

Grand Total Change: -2.2 pounds and -2.5"

Some of you know that my Friday morning (just for the heck of it) weigh in was quite a bit less than that. It's ok. I did it once, I can do that again. I traded the weight loss this week for a weekend of not being hyper focused, just vaguely focused on my weight loss but intensely focused on the man I love and what we have together.  I'm a very lucky girl to have such an incredible man in my life and I know this was just a temporary tradeoff in our journey of life together. 

A scary moment ...

So last week on Wednesday, I was asked to run another teacher to the hospital.  He was having mild cardiac symptoms, and needed to get  to the hospital.  I got him there, and a few hours later, we got the word that he had had a mild heart attack.  This of course has created a little concern for me, as he is in better shape than me.

Of course, do I do anything about it?  I talk a good talk, but when it comes time to put my words into action, not so much.  I actually did get on my exercise bike twice this week, and on the elliptical once.  But the real test is the total action.  Lately, I have been on a bit of an eating binge, but I am slowly getting it under control.  Now If I can get consistent on the bike, well, that would be awesome.

My weigh in this week was 275.2, which is a whopping .2 loss.  Wow?  Whatever happened to my 1-2 pounds per week?  Oh wait, that's right, I have been grazing like an overmilked cow.  Once I get the grazing under control I will hopefully get back on track.

This weekend is the annual Ice Age Trail chili campout at Lapham Peak State Park.  I will take a bunch of pictures and post them and see if I can find some great (healthy) recipes, but a chili campout may not be the best place to find them ...

Here's hoping for the future!

Mamavation Monday - Distractions!

You know you took one look at that picture and either went, "Huh?" or you started giggling. It is the oddest looking scale I've seen in a very long time. Why did I post it? Well because of the camera/scale war I have going on in this house. You see, taking a picture of your scale number is so much harder than it sounds. For me it involves the following steps:

1. Turn camera on.
2. Get camera zoomed in on the scale.
3. Set camera to the side.
4. Get scale turned on.
5. Step on scale.
6. Madly grab for camera when number comes up.
7. Get annoyed because camera strap has fallen in the picture.
8. Wrap said strap around camera.
9. Set camera to the side.
10. Repeat until you either scream in frustration and storm off or manage to get a blurry picture.

So, that's what I did this morning. Then, I sat down to write the post and discovered my camera hadn't saved the photo! Argh! I stomped back into the bathroom (which my pedometer happily recognized as steps) and tried this whole process again. The scale said I'd gained .4 pounds in 5 minutes! Really scale? I know you're ticked by this process but give me a break.

Now, for the past few months, I've been weighing myself in the bathroom. My bathroom (not because I want it!) has carpet. I discovered this morning that depending where I put the scale, my weight changed. How's that for accuracy? So, I moved it to the only piece of linoleum we have...which is right in front of my front door. That didn't work because it slants. Then, for my own amusement, I put it on the living room carpet. I instantly lost 30 pounds! Man, as much as I hate this carpet, I might keep it for that reason alone. I wish I'd gotten a picture.  Finally, I settled on the kitchen because it has super thin and rather useless carpet and the 10 times I stepped on and off the scale (that's how many attempts it took to get a picture!), the number stayed the same unlike other locations. So, to my neighbors...if you read this, don't look in my kitchen window on Monday mornings because you might get a show you didn't want to see. Or heck, I'm looking better these days..maybe you do want to see...

Right, that was a long tangent, huh? Long story, short..I posted that carpet covered scale in honor of my living room carpet which loves me. Now, since I know y'all have lots more blog posts to read and leave love for, let me show you this week's numbers...starting with the scale picture that I eventually got.

I hope you can see that number. It's a bit dark and now I realized I was zoomed in pretty far but those are my toes on there. I seriously need to remove the old nail polish and either redo them or leave them bare. This half painted look is not so sexy and since I get to see Justin this weekend, sexy is my goal. Homework is just that much nicer when a person is feeling sexy, don't you think?

Uh-oh, I'm tangenting again. I swear I have oooh shiney syndrome this morning. Seriously. That's a real thing, just like Wii arm. See? There I go again...I'd better give you the numbers before I spin off into space....

Average Daily Water Intake: 75oz (doing better!)

Workouts: 3000 step challenge x4 days + 3 Gruntstyle workouts
Weight Change: 275.2 (-2.8 pounds)
Overall Weight Change: -16.4 pounds

Now, for this week's Mamavation Question:

How would you brand your health and wellness lifestyle?  How do you want others to know you in this area?

Brand it? I'm not honestly sure. I guess Welcoming Weight Loss is my way of branding it. I want people to see that I'm a very real person with very real struggles in this area. I have those that I look up to and those who look up to me (though this is wow for me!). I'm successful, in part, due to the people that I have along for this ride and without them, this would be so much more difficult. I'm not actively looking to expand this brand, though the door is open for anyone who needs a Weight Loss home though knowing me, if they're female, they'll be pulled right into Mamavation too.

“This post is sponsored by New Balance and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women.

Move it, lose it! *

* actual losing it may vary....

So this week I worked out hard on improving muscle mass and strength. I hit the gym 3 times this week to lift and I think I may have over moved it and under lost it, since I backslid slightly. I'm not horribly concerned. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat, so I'm planning ahead. :)

Here's your picture:



So for the week, I'm actually UP 0.2 pounds. Not too worried. I'll be down next week.

Off to do a billion pushups for papavation monday.

Goal Setting or Small Steps, Big Goals

I love this picture. I don't know if you can tell, but each of those containers holds giant amount of Legos with the tag line What Will You Make? When I saw this, I knew I had to use it for this post. You see, today I'm going to tell you why I chose 1,000 steps as my first goal towards walking my way into a healthier life.

Y'all know what Legos are, right? They're these tiny building blocks that you can hook all together to make some seriously awesome creations. At the bottom of this post, I'm going to show you just a few of the things people have made. Seriously, I almost didn't get to this post because I was so buy geeking out over Lego creations.

Here's where the simile/metaphor/other geeky english language term comes in. Like Legos, you can change and build a healthier you, one building block/one step at a time. You've heard me say babysteps probably a million times now and it's a practice and theory that I totally subscribe to and believe in. We all want to be super human. We all want to do it now but let's face it, that's just not realistic for most of us.

Let's take walking for our example. I know there are people out there who walk 10,000 or more steps a day on average and that's awesome for them. As for me, if I tried that I'd never get off the couch. The very number would overwhelm me to the point where I'd get nothing done. So, I wore my pedometer for a few days and then averaged out what I get in a normal day. Are you ready for this? On an average day, I was only getting in about 500 steps. Ouch! That's not good and I think we all know that. I needed to make a change but one that was achievable.

Here is the major important point to this. Our goals need to be achievable. Yes, they need to challenge us or they're not really a goal. However, if we do not make them achievable, we won't reach them and where will we be? Right back on the couch with our favorite tub of icecream while watch Biggest Loser and say why can't that be me? Why can't I do that? Hello! Those people have nothing to do but workout! We have lives, kids, jobs and more.

Make your goals achievable. For me, I looked at my average and said I can do better than that. I can do 1000 steps a day. Once I get 1000 every day for a few days, I'll up it to 2000. Know what? I had a cheering squad behind me last night and I got to over 2000. It felt amazing! Today, I have a step partner and we've challenged ourselves to do 2000 again. Once we're regularly hitting that goal, that number will go up.

My advice is simple. Perhaps so simple that you're going to read this and go duh, we all knew that! It doesn't matter what goal you're trying to reach, take it slow and break it down. Are you not reaching your daily water goal? Take a look at what you're getting on average and then increase it by 8oz. That's one small glass of water. Keep increasing it slowly and seriously, before you know it, you'll be right up with those folks getting in 100oz a day.

I know some people who have had some real reality checks in their lives lately. They want to rebuild themselves, inside and out. My advice to them has been the same. Take it one step, one piece at a time. You didn't become this person overnight and you won't change overnight. You can babystep your way to being a better person. Someone once asked me how I'd eat an elephant..the correct answer? Umm..I wouldn't ewww...the answer they wanted? One bite at a time.

So, like these folks built these amazing Lego structures one brick at a time, let's change our lives one small, healthy goal at a time.

Mamavation Monday - Failure

Ugh. The truth is that I don't want to post this week. I stepped on the scale this morning, full of hope and stepped back off in tears. Not only was there no loss but I gained. I thought I'd done so much better this past week. I was watching portion control. I was trying to eat healthier. I wasn't perfect  but I was better than in other weeks where I did lose. I'm embarrassed. I feel like I let everyone who has been cheering for me down. I blew it. I failed. How can I expect to be an inspiration when I can't lose the weight myself? I'm so sorry everyone.

I wish I had more to say but somehow that scale picture says it all...

Average Daily Water Intake: 75oz (doing better!)
Workouts: Gruntstyle 2 week challenge 4x
Weight Change: 278.0 (+1.6 pounds)
Overall Weight Change: -13.6 pounds

Question: What parts of your body are you especially proud of right now? What makes you love them?

An honest answer? Right now there aren't any that I'm especially proud of. I'm feeling rather miserable about myself right now after a gain on the first week of MILI. I need to reevaluate and to try to remember:

Failure does not mean I’m a failure;
It does mean I have not yet succeeded.

Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing;
It does mean I have learned something.

Failure does not mean I have been a fool;
It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.

Failure does not mean I have disgraced;
It does mean I have dared to try.

Failure does not mean I don’t have it;
It does mean I have something to do in a different way.

Failure does not mean I am inferior;
It does mean I am not perfect.

Failure does not mean I have wasted my life;
It does mean that I have an excuse to start over.

Failure does not mean that I should give up;
It does mean that I should try harder.

Failure does not mean that I will never make it;
It does mean that I need more practice.

Failure does not mean that You have abandoned me;
It does mean that You must have a better idea.

-Unknown

This post is sponsored by Grunt Styleand I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women.

And our first scale picture is....

Kind of hard to read, actually. I had all sorts of issues getting this thing to behave how I wanted, but I finally got it. This is my first week in move it lose it and I think I was pretty good. I did at least some sort of exersise each day and really worked on keeping reasonable portions. That's always been more of my issue. In addition, I worked out every day and actually hit the gym on Friday to torment myself further! I actually kind of liked it. Is that sick of me? I think I might be a sick person.
Aaaanyway, without further delay, here's the picture and the numbers:



If you can't read it, that is 358.0, which is a decrease of 4.6 pounds this week. I promise not to get cocky and to realize that I'm not really likely to lose that EVERY week, but I'm really happy to see a good number on week one. Let's all of us keep plugging away and get healthier!

Skipping along ...

So this week has been a bit of a roller coaster.  The week started out well enough, and then kinda leveled off.  Yesterday, however, after being just another day for most of the day, I spent the time after school getting some stuff done.  Got some laundry done, went shopping and picked up a couple great shirts on clearance at Kohls, I even treated myself to a pedicure.
This morning, I woke up a half hour ahead of my alarm, and I got some laundry switched around, and if I get the stuff out of the dryer, I may be able to wear one of my new shirts today.  I know, I know, this sounds kinda lame, but I take the little joys when I can get them.
So on the weight loss front, I haven't really been trying that hard, to be honest.  My big downfall was and still is eating out.  So, I am thinking that I can shift gears on that.  I have in the past, been taking soup to work for lunch.  A can of soup like Progresso or a similar soup is under 300 calories for the can.  I may make it a normal part of my diet.  I need to ratchet up my water intake, and hopefully get my weight under control.
My doctor always tells me that HEALTHY weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.  If you have a random big loss, don't get freaked out by a rebound and radically change anything, just be steady and you will eventually lose weight.  So this week, I am up, but after a seven pound loss over the previous week, I am not so worried. My weigh in this morning was 275.4, which is up 4, but still down 3 from two weeks ago.  My short term goal is to break through the 270 barrier I have been hitting, and by gum, I am gonna do it this time!

Soup is good food.

And in an effort to cook healthier, I'm going to try to post a healthy and low prep time recipe every week too. Starting out this week....soup!


Beef Barley Soup:
1 pound ground beef (lean as you can get)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 celery rib, diced
1 14 ounce can of diced tomatos
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup medium pearled barley
8 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Brown ground beef in 6 quart soup pan and add 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 90 minutes. Add onion, carrots, clelery, tomatoes, beef broth, garlic, salt, pepper and barley and return to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until barley is tender (about 45 minutes). Serves about 4 very hungry people.

Mamavation Monday - scary pictures!

Ok, these are some scary pictures. I feel like I worked my butt off on the 2 week challenge, but this a set of kind of underwhelming results. It just means I'm setting myself up for some great results in MILI! I'm having trouble getting my digital scale to behave. These are off a mechanical scale, but I'm going to get a working digital one tomorrow and append a weight photo. I'm excited to get started with MILI. I know we're going to kick butt on it and I can't wait to get started!


BEFORE
Weight:365.6

Chest: 59

Waist: 58.5

Hips: 51.5

Thighs: 27" (left) and 27" (right)

After 2 weeks challenge and start of MILI
Weight: 362.6

Chest: 59

Waist: 56.5

Hips: 51

Arms: 15" (left) and 17.5" (right)

Thighs: 25" (left) and 25" (right)

So a grand total of 3 pounds and 6 inches. And tomorrow we start another exciting journey on the road to great health. Everyone kick butt!

Edited the weights. Clearly I was right not to trust the mechanical scale. Bah. This is my starting point and from here, it's up to me.

Mamavation Monday - Changes

Happy Sunday? I know..I know...I never post on Sunday. Nobody panic though. I have a very good reason. I almost typed raisin there. I don't know why. Anyway, tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I have to go into town early to drop off some paperwork at the kiddo's school, go to the post office, leave tons of comment love (hanging out at the library until it's time to pick up the kids), do the usual kid routine and then rush home to prepare for the big announcement tomorrow night.

I want to thank everyone who left me comment love or messaged me to show me your support in what's turning into a very difficult time*. Deciding to back out of the campaign was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in a very long time and it broke my heart. I spent a workout and a morning crying and then I decided to stop being a victim. Sometimes life happens but that doesn't mean I have to let it define me or what I can do. I confess that I half-assed my way through a couple of workouts and I have the results I do  because of that. It's ok. That was then. This is now and now, I'm up and going again.

So, since Justin and I won't be doing Campaign 10, Leah has been nice enough to allow us to continue in the MILI challenge. As part of that, we're required to post before pictures...what you didn't see at this point was me going nonononono! You see, I forgot to get a scale picture earlier and of course, I've eaten by now...so this scale picture? Well, it's fairly close to my weigh in. That'll teach me to think I'm on top of things!

Now, as I was saying...Before pictures. Since I'm a "single" mom right now, I had to get Roger (my 10 year old) to help out by taking these pictures. He cracked me up acting like a professional photographer. He was jumping around saying now, lift your chin just a little..there..there..Ok, got it. Now turn and pose for me. We actually had fun doing something I was nervous about doing. I haven't seen a full body picture of me in years and this is a bit of a reality check for me. Ready? Here they are...me....

Ok, wow. I am totally and utterly embarrassed to post those. Sometimes it's hard to see this kind of thing. It's hard to believe that I'm down 15 pounds from where I started this journey. What must I have looked like before? Ok, deep breath time. I am not going to feel bad. I am going to take these pictures and use them as motivation. Yep, I can and I will.

Ready for the next picture? This is my scale picture. Sadly, it doesn't show the number that it showed this morning but that's ok. It shows a very good approximation of where I am on this journey.

I apologize that it's blurry. No one told me just how hard it would be to get a scale picture! I had my camera, on and ready to go on the counter next to the scale. By the time I'd grab it, point it at the scale and press the button, the numbers had vanished! I think I took about 5 pictures before I managed to be fast enough. Nobody told me there was agility training involved in MILI!

I have one last set of figures to give you...the measurements . Since the 2 week challenge is also ending tomorrow, I'm going to post these in 2 sets. The first set will be where I was before I started the 2 week challenge. The 2nd set is where I'm ending it and beginning MILI. 

Before:

Weight: 278.4

Chest: 48" (damn big boobs!)

Waist: 45.5"

Hips: 54.5" (mama's got her some birthing hips?)

Arms: 19" (left) and 17.5" (right)

Thighs: 28" (left) and 29" (right)

After 2 week challenge/at start of MILI:

Weight: 276.8 (really 276.4 but I'm going with the scale picture for this) -1.6 pounds

Chest: 48"

Waist: 40.75" -4.75"

Hips: 54.5" 

Arms: 18" (left) and 17" (right) -1" and -.5"

Thighs: 27" (left) and 27.5" (right) -1" and -1.5"

Grand Total Change: -1.6 pounds and -8.75"

While it's not as wow as I've seen some do, I'm totally happy with it. I've had a really rough couple of weeks and I've done some emo eating and I've slacked off on some workouts. It seems my hips and chest aren't quite ready to let go but that's ok because the rest of my body is on board and I know they'll give in one of these days. 

Now, for the weekly wrap up:

Average Daily Water Intake: 50oz (still struggling with this!)
Workouts: Gruntstyle 2 week challenge
Weight Change: 276.4 (-.8 pounds)
Overall Weight Change: -15.2 pounds

I just want to say good luck to all of the remaining applicants. Just remember, I might not be in this campaign, but I am still here to support you and to cheer you on. My shoulders and ears are always available, online or off. 

* I got the call from my uncle(s) yesterday. Starting October 20th, I will be spending Thursday night - Monday morning at my grandmother's house, helping to take care of her. 

Jim's Week in Review

Hello my freaky darlings!  (I wonder how many of our readers out there recognize that movie reference)
So it has been two weeks, and what a two weeks it has been.  I have been busy, busy with school, and I have hardly been able to do anything around the house.
At school, I have two independent study students, one in Civics, and one in Economics.  I haven't done an IS for Econ prior to this, and it has been a few years since I taught the class, so I am doing a little extra reading and prepwork for this.  I also am setting up a trip to Washington DC through the Close-Up foundation (www.closeup.org) for ten students.  Add to that my regular courseload and being the stage manager, and I am one busy teacher.
In life, I have finally taken the step of ending the relationship I was in, and I am getting treatment for depression (I think I mentioned that two weeks ago, if not ... well, I mentioned it now).
My blood sugar levels have been in my target range, and health-wise, I have been feeling pretty good lately.  My weigh in this morning was a pleasant surprise, weighing in at 271.6, which is a drop of almost 7 pounds since my last post.
Hopefully I have enough momentum to break through that 270 plateau I have been hitting all this time.
Well, I have to dash ... mandatory training in 1 hour and I need to get going!  Happy losing!

Farewell to a Dream

This is me this morning. I feel like a beautiful landscape overshadowed with storm clouds. Last night, we had to make one of the toughest decisions that I've had to make for a long time. We had to decide to withdraw from the running in the Mamavation campaign. I didn't want to. I cried and agonized over this decision. I'm still crying this morning. Getting into a campaign has been a goal of mine for the past 6 months. I thought we had finally found the time to do it and we applied. We applied and were made finalists. I know that everyone who applied was made a finalist, but still, it felt good. It felt so good to see the support and the love that I didn't know was there.

I know people will ask what happened. I know they'll want to know why we pulled out. I can only say family. We had to pull out from a campaign that could have helped us and our boys so much because of my family. My grandmother, who in all reality is my mother, has cancer and my uncles no longer want her staying alone because she's fallen a couple of times and laid there on the floor because she didn't want to be a bother to anyone in the middle of the night. Even though there are 6 grown adult children over there, they can't seem to figure this out on their own and want me to step in.

Do you want to know the truth? I'm angry. I'm angry as hell with them. I'm angry that I'm the grandchild and I have to be the grown up for them because they can't do it themselves. I'm angry that some of them are so self-focused that they don't stop to think that I have a family. I have children. I have things I should be doing. But, I love my grandmother and would do anything for her and if me being there makes the time she has left easier, I'll sacrifice for that.

The worst part? It's not that I feel like I'm letting Leah and everyone down, though that part is hard. It's the fact that my 11 year old son had a well child check up this morning and was in the 93rd percentile for weight. For most kids, that wouldn't be a big deal. For a child with cerebral palsy, who has joint and muscle issues, it is. We've been told we have to get his weight down by January. If it's not, she's going to put him through thyroid and diabetes testing.

I'm angry and I'm scared and I'm in tears as I write this post. I feel like I've been a horrible parent for allowing his weight to get that high. Don't bother telling me how he's at his dad's house 5 days a week and I'm not responsible for that. It doesn't matter. I'm his mom. I'm his mom and because of 6 grown adults who can't get their act together, I just had to give up an opportunity that could have helped my baby boy.

So, to everyone who has supported us or voted to us, I have to say thank you. You have no idea what that means to me. I thought we had no chance of winning and then suddenly there were all these people saying they'd voted for us and cheering us on. Thank you. With everything I have in me, thank you.

Now, I have to go blow my runny nose, wipe my eyes and take a few deep breathes. After all, I may not be the super mom who can do it all, but I still have a 2 week challenge workout to complete, a guest post to write, a phone charger to buy, a weight room/pool punch card to buy, healthy snacks to research, a massively difficult conversation with my ex-husband to have and whatever else life throws at me today.

I am so sorry to those I have let down, including myself. I feel like a failure right now because I couldn't do it all. I hope you can forgive me.

Monday,monday...

Last week just kicked my ass. Week one of the 2 week challenge is down, but week 2 is coming along now. It was incredibly hard and I lost 2 whole pounds and 2 whole inches. It's not a finish, but it is a start. I'll be pleased to keep doing that a for a couple of months. That would put me down 20 pounds and 20 inches and I think I would be quite pleased. :) I'm in the running for mamavation 10. More on that later, but I really am trying to qualify for something with mama in the word. Who knew!

Mamavation Monday - Finalists?!?

Wow, where do I start? I guess I should start out by saying I totally stole this week's graphic from this post here. I did that because something amazing has happened. Somehow, Justin and I were made finalists for the next Mamavation campaign. If you don't know what that is, it's a 7 week bootcamp for the both of us. If we won, we would be provided with individualized help from such awesomeness as Pete Cohen, Alyssa (sorry, girl! I don't know how to spell your last name!) and Daniel. Honestly, it's an amazing opportunity and I never expected that we would make finalists. So, here's the thing. To win, we have to get people to vote. Honestly, as long as it's legal, we can make that happen anyway we want. In the past, I've seen giveaways done. I've seen mad scrambling and all sorts of craziness. Now, I'm as wacky as the next girl, but here's the thing...I don't have anything fitness related to do a giveaway with right now and I'm not in a financial position where I can go buy something. So, are you ready for this?








I'm just going to ask you! I'm not going to say I'm more deserving than anyone else. I'm not going to bribe you for votes. I'm just going to ask: If you think we would be inspiring...if you think we would rock this...if you think we deserve this, would you please go vote for us? We're craftsbykatie and justinvation. That's all. Now, on to my regularly scheduled post.

This past week was full of week 1 of the 2 week challenge. Wow. That's the one word used to describe this. I nearly broke down in tears on Day 5. It tried very hard to kick my ass but I said nope and I kept going. I have to say a major thank you to Megan (nccarterfamily) and to Justin for pushing me through that workout. Their encouragement and support made a huge difference to me!

Now, for the numbers...and for the first time ever, I'm going to write under them. I feel like I should insert another drumroll, but for space sake, could you just play the above one again?


Average Daily Water Intake: 50oz
Workouts: Gruntstyle 2 week challenge
Weight Change:277.2 (-.2 pounds) ** Edit: reweighed and I'm down -1.2 for this week! Yay!
Overall Weight Change: -13.4 pounds  (corrected number = -14.4 pounds total!)


Yep, all that work and I only lost .2 pounds. How discouraging is that? So, remembering what we always tell the other girls, I went and got the tape measure. I figured that if the core monster was gaining muscle, I could live with that loss for this week. After one week of the 2 week challenge, here are my numbers:


Starting:
Arms: 19" (L) & 17.5" (R)  <---- I keep telling people I'm lopsided. Now maybe they'll believe me.
Waist: 45.5"
Hips: 54.5" <----- Isn't that scary? Another reason to vote for us!
Legs: 28" (L) & 29" (R)


After 1 Week:
Arms: 19" (L) & 17" (R) <---- -.5 inches on the right arm! Now I'm even more lopsided!
Waist: 42" <---- Umm...that's minus 3.5 inches. Does that mean I do have a core? 
Hips: 54.5"
Legs: 28" (L) and 28" (R) <---- Woot! My right leg caught up with a 1" loss!


Grand Total Change: -5 inches. That's after 1 week. Is that even possible? It must be because tape measures don't lie!


This post is sponsored by Brita and I took the Brita Challengehttp://bit.ly/oRnbqd to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women .