Less Lisa

Things are going slow but sure. I have been really good about avoiding the scale. Seems, for now at least, my obsession with the scale has subsided. I have stayed off all week long and today I did get on just to peek. I am down this week so far

Our wall unit project that we have been working on all week is coming along awesome-ly. Tonight I have a girls night out, so I won’t do any work on it tonight, but tomorrow we should have it all done. It’s all built, and we got the shelves in last night, now the rest is up to me. I have it all in white primer right now, and need to do 2 coats of white paint and then Clint has 2 drawers to make for it, and that’s it I will post pictures as soon as it’s finished. I have taken pictures from how it looked before all this and all the steps through the process to finish it up. Clint is so happy how it turned out that he wants me to submit pictures to some home-improvement shows…something like how Christopher Lowell does. He shows before and afters on air. I’ll get it all done and then see

The warm weather has arrived. Although it’s too wet and dreary to be walking outdoors, and with all the wall project stuff going on at home, I haven’t tackled exercising at all this week. My schedule this week has been non-stop from morning till night. Not to mention, my car has been in the shop most of this week and I just now got it back, so my mom is sharing her car with me.

4:30 a.m. - Get up and shower
5:30 a.m. - Get Abbie and Megan up and ready
6:30 a.m. - Take Abbie to Latchkey
6:45 a.m. - Take Meggie to sitter (just for this week)
7:15 a.m. - Pick mom up for work
7:20 a.m. - We get to work
4:30 p.m. - Head out to pick up Meggie from sitter (Clint picks up Abbie for me)
5:10 p.m. - Home & work on wall till 9 or 10 p.m. depending on how tired I am.

We have somehow managed to squeeze in dinner somewhere in there, and this morning before I left I got a load of dishes done, but other than that, I haven’t literally had time for anything else. I can’t wait till it’s finished and I have some down-time.

I just cannot wait to get the TV into it’s spot in the wall now, and be able to break out the Biggest Loser workouts again…it’s gonna be awesome to get back at it.

I’m gonna have to call Jenn (Against the Odds) because I have seen her at all and I’m getting kinda worried…maybe if we all head over and visit and swamp her with WHERE ARE YOU’S?? she may return?? Jump on it

I still haven’t had alot of time to sit and go through the WW online website and all the tools and all that I now have access to, but I can tell you that I LOVE the online points tracker they have. Usually I’m either putting my points in my Palm, or using an Excel spreadsheet that Jenn and I had created awhile back, but then if I didn’t have my Palm with me, or if I had filled out the Excel spreadsheet at home or at work and didn’t have it at the other, I was screwed. This way, online, I’m good! I can access it either at home or work, or wherever…I love it.

Yesterday I was under points, busy day, but Monday I was over, so it makes up more than the difference because I was quite under.

All in all, I’m doing wonderful again Back on track, feeling very positive about it all…I definitely just needed a little extra something to get the ball rolling again, and joining online did it for me! I am feeling great!!!

Spring fever is setting in…it’s going to get sooo warm this week!!! 60 degrees!!! I’m so excited…perfect walking weather, so I will be beginning to walk on my lunch breaks again soon!! I’m so excited about that…looking forward to fresh air and exercise during the day again

Today I joined Weight Watchers online. After seeing what it offers, I’m not all that sure it’s going to help me stay on track any more than I already do. But I haven’t gotten to sit and see all that the site offers yet, either. I think I just need some kind of actual activity involving weight watchers in some way other than just tracking my points and activity in my Palm.

We have been busy this whole weekend building a wall unit for a new TV that we bought. We are building it right into the unit. So far, it’s amazing I will have pictures of the before/after of the project. Clint and I designed it ourselves, and he’s amazing doing woodworking, so it’s coming together quite nicely I’ll post pics after it’s completed.

I will also update more soon Bedtime..gotta be up early Weekends go by too sucky fast.

I won’t begin this post with yet another ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been around’ kinda deal.

Things at work are beginning to be on a really nice even-keel. I am caught up on all of my work daily, and even have some time to spare on getting some small details taken care of and also help my mom stay caught up on her work load. The stress is definitely gone. It feels amazing.

Now it’s time once again to focus on ME.

My weight lately has been an up and down between the same 2-3 lbs. Today began my ‘time’ and I’m feeling the craving for Lippy. That always helps my nauseaus (I cannot for the life of me spell that word) and cramps…so, look out girl, here I come!

We all know the feelings I’m experiencing right now. I have been off track for a bit now, and the feelings pulling me away from Weight Watchers are coming at me again. I feel like I need to follow my points and exercise and drink my water…we all know all of this already. But now I am in the slump again where I start to debate low-carb just to get things rolling again and avoid the cravings. I just don’t think I can do it. I don’t feel healthy when I follow low-carb. I was watching Celebrity Fit Club 3 today (marathon of it) and the dietician on the show has a diet plan he has them all follow that is called the ‘Smash Diet’…phase 1 is nothing but fruits and veggies for the first 9 days. I think keeping my points low and getting in tons of the fruits and veggies is my key to getting back on track, so I’m going to stay faithful to my WW and do just that. Low fats and processed foods, and more fruits and veggies.

I’m finding myself not liking fruit all that much anymore. WEIRD. I always have liked fruit and despised Veggies. Now I CRAVE veggies (especially grilled veggies) and really can’t take much fruit.

I know I told you all about my new running/Lippy shoes, but here they are…they have the ’shox’ all the way across the bottom. They are sooooo comfortable. Only difference is, where these ones are green, mine are grey/silver color…

Alrighty…I’m heading to Lippy…I do believe that possibly tomorrow I will be re-starting my Biggest loser workout challenge once again…

Dear SP@MMERS ~

I have now deleted and blocked well over 300 sp@m comments. Take a hint. Your posts will not show up here. Move on. I do not have a penis, therefore I am not in need of any penis enlargement pills, and I guess that covers the need for Viagra as well. Thank you.

To my friends ~

I am still here. I’m doing well, becoming more active in the exercise department once again. Things are kind of leveling off now in the stress situations. We are pretty cozy in our new company. It’s the same building, same office, same people, but we can already feel the ‘good’ this new company is bringing us. It’s been great.

We got Abbie into Latchkey at her school, luckily. There usually are no openings, but when I called there were, so that takes a huge stress off of me as well knowing that she is cared for before and after school. I drop her off in the morning about an hour and a half before school and she is there about 45 minutes after school when Clint picks her up.

Abbie has also started horse-riding lessons. Tomorrow will be her 3rd lesson and her instructor is so impressed with her. She told us not to be surprised when Abbie excels very fast for her age. She is so passionate about horses. This isn’t just a kid ‘I want a pony’ phase for sure We’re so proud of her…

Megan is also doing well and adjusting to having to go to grandma and grandpa’s house once in a while when we have people from the new company here in the office. She doesn’t do real well with change, but is definitely doing better now. She can still come to work with me every day, as long as the new guys aren’t here. I like to have her at grandpa’s house just so there’s no stress if she gets upset or whatever and they are here.

Weight-wise, I’m hanging in there…playing with the same 2-3 lbs. basically. I did go out and get some new wonderful shoes specifically for Lippy. They are called Nike Shox. They have the spring looking things on the sole of the shoe. But not just in the heel. They go all the way down to your toes. They are pretty cool. On Lippy, however, they don’t help with the numbness of my foot. It usually happens after about 15 minutes, and it didn’t happen last night until after 20 minutes, so that is a bit better, and also when it happened, I had changed the resistance to a 7 which is kinda high, so that probably played a part and also that I haven’t been doing Lippy very faithfully. Now that I’m getting back in the routine, things may get better

I will try and update more often, as well. I don’t get on the computer at all anymore at night. I have actually been in bed at 8:00 p.m. for the past 4 nights. That is so not like me. Getting up at 5:00 a.m. every morning will do that to ya!!

I’m SOOOO sorry for my lack of posts…I really don’t have time right now to go into everything that’s been going on, so for a quick rundown…

The stress at work was because our company was sold to another company. The fear of the unknown is the WORST. But the wonderful thing is, the new company is amazing. All the changes so far are completely positive. So things there have really gotten much better.

Last Monday I was up one lb. Amazingly this week I maintained. I have no idea how it’s not worse than it is, because I have not had any time for exercising at ALL…literally. Poor Lippy has been fixed for quite some time now, and haven’t used her at all And eating…that’s a whole different story. I don’t think I have counted points in over a week and a half now. The week that was so stressful, I never got above like 17 points everyday…now I have just been eating small amounts when I have time to, so I’m not keeping track, but with the way the scale has been, it can’t be too bad. I’m going to focus this week on counting and exercising…

I had over 100 SPAM comments here since the last time I posted…friggin people…luckily they don’t post till I say whether they can or not…LOL…big fat waste of their time

I will be back real soon with more of a post…but I gotta get back to work…thanks for all the comments and e-mails…

Wouldn’t you know it…the day after weigh in and this morning I see 249.5 again (That’s another 1 lb. loss since yesterday if you are counting…)

I am seriously attributing this past weeks loss to portion control. I know I was under a TON of stress last week, and that caused my appetite to be absolutely gone. My mom would make me stop to eat at work (she’s my boss, in case you are new here)…I don’t think I hit 20 points one day last week. One day was only 11. I’m not worried though, because it won’t last…my ‘time’ is in about a week…so we shall see.

I can tell you though that seeing as how the stress affected me so badly last week, it did get me one week of no sweets or anything and I have no craving what-so-ever for anything like that. My biggest craving right now is peanut butter. I found these awesome Quaker rice cakes (the full-sized ones, not the tiny snack ones) and they are peanut butter and chocolate chip. They are 1.5 pts. each and I have been putting 1 TBSP of peanut butter (2 pts.) on it, and that along with 1/2 cup of vegetable soup has been my lunch for probably the past 4 days at least. Something about the peanut butter also (probably the high protein content) keeps me satisfied longer. I don’t get hungry. I will seriously get home after work at night and only have used 8 points before dinner - the lunch I just mentioned and my cup of Special K redberries w/ milk in the morning. Today I’m at 9 points because I had a WW english muffin this morning with my cereal for 1 pt. Ooh the craziness my life has become. English Muffin.

I seem to have lost my humor in the past couple of posts, but let me assure you, once the stress is gone, I will feel more like my old self. Right now I guess it’s just stick to the facts…and as they are, they’re working for me!! I’m even noticing the loss in my clothes fitting right again. Add to that my constant thirst for water, eating low in my points (except for yesterday which I failed to mention I tried to eat a normal dinner last night of pork chops and saurkraut and mashed potatoes to eat a bit higher point of a day and ended up sick from the heaviness of the potatoes. I haven’t had potatoes in forever.) and exercise that has gotten in whenever I have managed, and it’s a great start to another losing week!

Lippy’s fix-her-parts STILL have yet to arrive at my house. I’m IRRITATED with Sears.com. Well, I actually ordered the parts over the phone because they will let you do a check by phone with them, and she told me it was showing an arrival date, to me, of last Friday. LAST Friday. It’s Tuesday. Far as I know they aren’t there. They shipped out on the 16th. Yeah. And I called them yet again last night and they don’t have a tracking number. It’s been 8 days since they have shipped out, and you don’t have a tracking number yet?? C’mon Sears people. Hopefull they will be there when I get home tonight and since Clint will be getting home before me, maybe he will make my day by already having her all fixed when I get there. He’s good like that

Work stress has finally lifted just a bit. I am not kidding when I say last night was the first night’s sleep I have had in 5 days. I close my eyes to try and sleep and I see numbers from work, and just cannot get it all out of my head. It’s been awful. I haven’t been able to eat much, sleep much. Hopefully after today it will get better. I don’t think my body can take much more. To top it off, now I’m coming down with something. My throat is killing me, I’m all stuffed up…just crappy.

Ok. The negative it out of the way. Here’s the good side of it all.

I lost 4.5 lbs. this week!!! Scale was 250.5 this morning! I had seen 249 at one point this past week, but I will take the 250.5 with no worries

I will try and update more here as soon as I can. Right now the long hours (full week last week plus 8 hours on Saturday and 4 hours yesterday) and stress have just had me down. I have been doing my workouts whenever I can sneak them in. I had 2 days last week that I didn’t do them, but as you can see from my weigh-in, even a few times a week helps!!!

Just in case you thought I have gone AWOL, thought I should post…

Everything is still going really good, except for the fact that Lippy’s fix-her-parts won’t be here until at least tomorrow. I’m having withdrawls big time. Can’t wait to have my girl back. I have also missed out on the past 2 nights TBL workouts. Not by choice. And the guilt is killing me. Seriously. But tonight I tackled the ‘Boot Camp’ workout on the DVD. The other night I was saying how the ’sculpting’ workout didn’t seem like a workout cuz I wasn’t out of breath, that kinda thing. Well, the Boot Camp?? COMPLETE OPPOSITE. I was DRIPPING sweaty when it was done. I pushed myself HARD tonight and really got through it all. There was only one time that I stopped 2 counts before the group was done.

I am sitting here with a glass of water that I swear weighs 20 lbs. I’m shaking so dang bad trying to drink it.

So the reason for the last 2 nights of missed workouts. Work. Stress. Long hours. Period. Not MY period, just those 3 things, period. Work has been unbelievable. I actually left there in tears yesterday. It was THAT bad. I’m not a drama queen. For me to get that stressed and upset it very unusual, and I just couldn’t do anymore. It’s all mental stress. Even today was alot but I handled it much better. The hours I have been working are long, I even missed getting Abbie off the bus yesterday because I left work so late. No I didn’t make her sit outside in the snowstorm till I got home. Luckily we have wonderful neighbors that have kids Abbie’s age and she yelled across the yard for Abbie to come over there when she got off the bus and kept her for me till I made it home. Today, Abbie stayed out of school because she’s sick, so she got to go to work with Megan and I, and I was there for another long day today. Tomorrow will be normal hopefully.

I swear mental stress is worse than anything physical. It just makes me DRAINED. One good thing I am feeling tonight though, is, working out really does relieve stress. I feel so much better now that Bob kicked my butt in Boot Camp. Damn he’s a cutie.

Evening update ~ I have updated my challenge page, my weight page and all of the ’stat’ information on my main page. It is all actual numbers now. I hadn’t changed anything at all over the Christmas holiday. I had gained during that time and lost a few then gained a few back. Played with it like it was a yo-yo. Now I have officially lost 3 lbs. of it again and will continue to. So instead of the 49 lbs. I was down, now I’m down 42. How many times can one person lose the same weight over and over?? I’m so glad that I have jumped into this challenge with Jenn and Elizabeth. I needed something so badly to get me back on the ball and stop the messin’ around. Tonight was the first night of tackling the High-intensity workout on the TBL dvd and it was AWESOME. This was the same workout that I posted about on the first day that I received the DVD. The one where I said I didn’t even make it 10 minutes and thought I was going to die and find my body parts falling off as I stumbled for the bed??? That is THE high intensity workout. Obviously it’s not the best workout to start off with, but in the month since I received the DVD and only doing it seriously and steadily for the past week, tonight I did the whole 20 minute workout. I can feel the tolerance level in my body changing. I’m able to handle more of a workout and my breath and heart rate recover so much quicker than before I started this challenge.

As I was doing the workout tonight, it came to the cool down / stretch and you rest your hands on the top of your thighs, and I did a double take and kept squeezing the top of my leg. My hand goes OVER the top of my leg now. Not lays across the width of my leg anymore, but my fingers actually BEND and wrap OVER my leg. It’s getting THINNER. Damn good feeling!

Morning post ~Weigh in day…I was nervous. I had lost a bunch the first couple of days, then saw the scale creep up a little even though I was eating good and working out EVERY FRIGGIN DAY - GO ME!!!

So I went from nervous to super happy I lost 3 lbs. this week I haven’t had a chance to update my workout chart and all, but I have been at it every single day New workout starts tonight, I’m excited to see what it’s like…I will update everything tonight when I get home…Jenn and Elizabeth, I’m coming to see what your weigh in was like too!!!