My Weight Loss Ticker!

Monday, May 26, 2008

My new toy!!

I love my gadgets!! I got this with reward money I got for losing 50 pounds so far!



This is a GPS that I wear outside when I run/walk and it tells me what my pace is and my distance - so everything that the treadmill does for me, this takes it outside!!
I borrowed one from Fleet Feet and I loved it! I have learned that I run a lot faster then I thought I did - so on the treadmill I was setting the belt too slow for my pace! It even knows when I'm stopped and waiting for a signal so it will pause itself until I start moving again!

Thoughts and Observations on my Weight Loss...

Just a few observations and thoughts...

First - I used to be a person that HATED the heat. I didn't like heat at all I didn't tolerate it and I would stay inside if I could help it and not go out all summer! My first long walk/run outside was on a day when the temp was 100+ and I did very well. I didn't realized how well until a week later I was talking to others about it and they asked me if the heat bothered me and I had to tell then, no it didn't. I guess all that fat I had turned me into a big human oven! Now losing part of it has made me tolerated the heat better and made my bodys cooling system more efficient.

Second - I have finally been able to take compliments from people who comment on my weight loss without saying either "its no big deal" or "I still have a long way to go" I can now simply say thank you very much and be proud of what I have done.

Third - my body loves to exercise and my body loves to stretch - my body does not like it when I am very active and I don't stretch afterwards. I walked a lot during the jazz festival and I should have stretched after, but I didn't and I had various aches and pains in my hips, knees and legs all the next day.

Fourth - Fleet Feet is my new favorite store!

Fifth - I can take a cheat day and not feel guilty about it anymore.

Sixth - My feet and ankles are very happy I'm lighter.

Seventh - Since getting a new bra that fits (got fitted at Nordstroms and got a size that fits me perfect!) my "shelf" that used to catch food while I eat has been empty! (sorry - I had to include this!! I'm very proud!!)

Here is to losing the next 50 pounds!!!! Thanks everyone for joining me on the journey of mine!!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Week 44 Weigh In!!

I did it!! I'm now down 50 pounds!!! 50.3 to be exact! This is a busy weekend for us, my hubby plays in a band and we are at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee all weekend, but I made sure I got to my weigh in. I got a 50 pound medal from weight watchers and they did a celebration in the meeting. The most special thing though was my family being there. I got to tell everyone how wonderful and special my hubby is and how he is so supportive and that I couldn't have gotten to where I am without him.

During the week I was having a really rough time and he sent me an email. The first line was - "Don't forget that what you have already accomplished is extraordinary." I think this is something I will keep with me always.

Oh and the guys in the band were so cute, most of them would look at me and said "you changed your hair right?" A few of them know I'm on weight watchers, but it so cute to see the guys want to say something but not know how to! I have not seen them since December.

Oh and when I mentioned to my group that my hubby has also lost 30 + pounds the leader gave him a 25 pound medal.

It has been such a wonderful weekend! We are going back to the Jazz fest today and know I'm going to have a wonderful time. I have made some connections with some things and my weight loss and I will share them once the weekend is over, I want to have the time to sit down and write out my feelings and observations.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library - Don Borchert

Book Description from Amazon - Not long ago, the public library was a place for the bookish, the eggheaded, and the studious—often seeking refuge from a loud, irrational, crude, outside world. Today, libraries have become free-for-all entertainment complexes filled with rowdy teens, deviants, drugs, and even sex toys. Lockdowns and chaperones are often necessary. What happened? Don Borchert was a short-order cook, door-to-door salesman, telemarketer, and Christmas-tree-chopper before landing a job in a California library. He never could have predicted his encounters with the colorful kooks, touching adolescents, threatening bullies, and tricksters who fill the pages of this hilarious memoir. In Free for All, Borchert offers readers a ringside seat for the unlikely spectacle of mayhem and absurdity that is business as usual at the public library. You’ll see cops bust drug dealers who’ve set up shop in the men’s restroom, witness a burka-wearing employee suffer a curse-ridden nervous breakdown, and meet a lonely, neglected kid who grew up in the library and still sends postcards to his surrogate parents—the librarians. In fact, from the first page of this comic debut to the last, you’ll learn everything about the world of the modern-day library that you never expected.

This was such a good book, I'm so glad that I'm no the only one out there that had a rude awakening when I started working at the library - there are a lot of weird things that go on and things that I would have never expected!!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Week 43 weigh in!

Well I lost .2 this week. I was hoping to lose at least what I had gained last week, but it wasn't meant to be. The temperatures here went way up and we have been in the 100's several days in a row now and I have been puffy since. I know it is probably just water weight and I will lose it, but darn it does this have to happen when I'm so close to 50 pounds lost??

On the plus side I had the bright idea to walk/run after weigh in and meet up with hubby and younger son who had went to the movies - it was a little over 4 miles between the two distances and I did it! (not like I had a choice, I really had no where else to go! LOL!!) I do have to say it was mostly walking, but at a quicker pace that I have been walking on the treadmill at and my running intervals where not that long because one of my knees started bothering me, but by golly I did it!! I did the 4.31 miles in 1 hour 10 minutes.

The Devil's Bones - Jefferson Bass

Description from Amazon.com - In two previous New York Times bestselling novels, Jefferson Bass enthralled readers with ripped-from-the-headlines forensic cases, memorable characters, and plots that "rival Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Drawing on research at the Body Farm—three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition—Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real.
A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone.
In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious package—a set of cremated remains that looks entirely unreal. With the help of a local crematorium, he investigates and discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: A facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly, instead scattering them all around the grounds.
Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality—with the force of a lit match meeting spilled gasoline. En route to trial, his nemesis, medical examiner Garland Hamilton, has escaped from custody. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse, played for the ultimate stakes: Brockton's own life. With help from his loyal graduate assistant, Miranda, and ace criminalist Art Bohanan, Brockton eventually tracks Hamilton, but when the police arrive, they find only a smoldering ruin. Sifting through the ashes, Brockton finds the incinerated remains of Hamilton . . . or does he? The answer—along with Brockton's ultimate test—comes in a searing moment of truth.

This is another author that I read as soon as a new one comes out, I didn't like this book as well as the other two, but it was still very good. The only problem was at the very end they had three cases to tie up and they did it in a very short amount of time and I felt they rushed the end of the book.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

My first "run" outside!

I decided to take a walk outside and did several 1 minute run intervals. It was the first time my running shoes have been outside! I have only worn them either on my treadmill or the gym and I change back out of them before I go back outside after working out. I did do this too close to the time I ate dinner, so I felt a little sick and with the good old sacramento valley muck we have I came back wheezing, but I will have to get used to running outside, I don't know of any 5K's I can run inside!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Mothers Day!

I opened all my stuff this morning. My younger son gave me two very nice cards and a pin he made that looks like a little bouquet of flowers. My older son gave me a card and a promise of a fleet feet gift certificate as soon as he gets out that way. My mom gave me a card and a gift certificate to fleet feet. My future daughter in law gave me a card last night that I opened this morning, she is so sweet! My hubby made my favorite breakfast. So far it has been a great day!

More 5K training chat!!

Saturday I learned that my treadmill shuts itself off after 100 minutes! I did 3 minutes running, 7 minutes walking and I had 6 sessions of running and made it through all of them! Then I was watching TV and just stayed on and walked for a total of 5+ miles, but at the 100 minute mark the treadmill turned off, I took that as my cue to stop. I then stretched and it felt so good!!! I'm really proud of myself! Sunday or Monday I have to do those darn 5 minutes intervals again, I'm really hoping I can make it through this time!!!

Brad Paisley!

I'm going to see Brad Paisley and Jewel on June 21st - I saw him last year and he was just incredible!! I love Jewels country single "Stronger Woman" What an amazing song!! Hubby rewarded me with tickets and we will be right up front!!! I can't wait!!!

Jo Dee Messina concert!!

My future daughter in law invited me to see Jo Dee Messina with her last night and it was so much fun!!! I had a blast!! Jo Dee is an amazing person with lots of spunk!! I so wanted to buy a shirt that said "My give a damns busted" but I can imagine my younger son picking up that phrase and using it all the time! LOL!! I did buy a cute pink cowboy hat with a tiara on the front of it at the fair where the concert was!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Week 42 weigh in!

I gained 1 pound. My leader looked at my journals and talked with me and we decided I didn't eat enough. Weird huh?? I didn't compensate for the more activity points being used and didn't change my food at all, so I need to eat a few more points a day especially on the days I run and make it count - protien mainly. So next week will be a better week!!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

5K training!

Well so far the training program is going well, I had 5 minute intervals last night (only had to do three) and made it through the first one no problem, the second one I had to walk about half way through and the third one I only made it two mintes. I was having problem with a very tight calf muscle. I probably should have gotten off the treadmill and stretched it out, but only did that after I was done. It feels just fine today! I know the longer intervals are important, but I really like the shorter intevals I did on sunday - I probably could have done a million of the 30 second run/1 minute walk intervals! I'm really enjoying running more that I ever thought I would and find myself looking forward to the running parts and being tottaly bored during the walking parts now! LOL!!

The Choice - Nicholas Sparks

Book Description from Publishers Weekly - In his 13th book, bestselling Sparks (At First Sight, etc.) limns the far-reaching implications of several seemingly ordinary choices made by Beaufort, N.C. veterinarian Travis Parker and his next-door neighbor Gabrielle Holland, a physician's assistant and recent arrival. After an inauspicious first meeting where Gabby accuses Travis's boxer of impregnating her purebred collie, the two fall hard for each other. Already dating someone else seriously, Gabby is faced with a dilemma: whether to stick with longtime boyfriend Kevin, or get involved with Travis. The first part of the tale paints a vivid picture of her decision-making process and its effects on Travis and Gabby's lives. That sets up Part II, which takes place 11 years later when Travis faces a life and death decision following a car accident. A tender and moving love story and a quick read, Sparks's latest does not disappoint.

What a great love story!! I usually read everything Sparks writes since he is a local and very often patrons come in asking about him, this one didn't disappoint!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Week 41 Weigh in!

Well I lost .2 - so I'm now down 49.1 pounds total. I was hoping for 50 pounds thins week, but also knew I had gained weight in the beginning of the week since I started the training for the 5K. My body just takes a week to adjust to anything new - so I will have to wait until next week for the 50!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Mistaken Identity - The Van Ryn and Cerak Familes

Product Description From Amazon.com Meet Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak: one buried under the wrong name, one in a coma and being cared for by the wrong family.
This shocking case of mistaken identity stunned the country and made national news. Would it destroy a family? Shatter their faith? Push two families into bitterness, resentment, and guilt?
Read this unprecedented story of two traumatized families who describe their ordeal and explore the bond sustaining and uniting them as they deal with their bizarre reversal of life lost and life found.
And join Whitney Cerak, the sole surviving student, as she comes to terms with her new identity, forever altered, yet on the brink of new beginnings.
Mistaken Identity weaves a complex tale of honesty, vulnerability, loss, hope, faith, and love in the face of one of the strangest twists of circumstances imaginable.


I don't usually read too many nonfiction best sellers, but I saw this story when it was big news and I saw them again on Oprah and I was intrigued. Their faith is just amazing and I couldn't put the book down!