operation jiggly bits - check in

We're in our last week for OJB!  I must say that I haven't risen to the challenge as much as I thought I would 6 weeks ago.  But here are several changes that I've made that I plan to continue even after the challenge is over.

Drinking more water. 
Before OJB there would be days that I would go without drinking water.  Drinking Diet Cokes has always been a bad habit with me and I would tend to only drink my water when I was playing tennis.  However, there were many days when I'd show up to the tennis court with a Diet Coke in my hand.  Not good...I know.  Now I'm trying to only drink my Diet Cokes first thing in the morning and switch to water for lunch, afternoons and with dinner.  When I'm really craving a soda in the afternoons, I've found a natural diet soda...Zevia that I will drink instead.  Zevias are sweetened with Stevia instead of artificial sweeteners AND they are caffeine free.  My goal is to eventually stop drinking Diet Cokes and switch to Zevias when I want a soft drink.

Drinking less wine
Instead of sharing an entire bottle of wine each week night with my DH, we are drinking only ONE glass of wine after we put the kids to bed. 

Veggies & Fruit
Unless I could count my wine as a fruit, before OJB I was definitely not getting in my fruits and veggies most days of the week.  I think out what I'm going to eat throughout the day and if I don't have enough fruits/veggies incorporated in my meals, I'll make myself a Green Monster.  With the Green Monsters I can load all my F&V's into one drink.

Exercise
I am working on this still.  I play a lot of tennis...about 9 hours a week.  And while it's great cardio and I know it's good for my body, I need something more than this to lose weight.  I really need to be running and lifting weights as well.  I'm still working on incorporating this in my daily/weekly routines!

Clean Eating
Before OJB I hadn't heard too much about eating "clean".  In the past 6 weeks though I've done my research and realize just how easy it is to eat clean.  This is definitely an area that I've opened my eyes to and am slowing weeding out processed and man-made foods and adding more and more clean foods.  I look forward to getting to where we're eating the majority of our meals and snacks as clean foods.

More than anything else, over the last 6 weeks I've developed a new attitude.  One where I realize when I'm making healthy choices, and one where I realize when I'm making choices that if I made even the slightest change, I would greatly benefit from it. 

Now - I'm not sure if today ends the challenge or if next week is the end of the challenge.  So, I'm going to post below my beginning numbers (from March 22) and my numbers from this morning.

Weight: 142....142
Chest:  37.5....37
Waist:  31.5....31
@belly button:  34.5....32.5
Hips:  39....38.5
Thighs:  22.3....22
Biceps:  12.25....11.5

I haven't said goodbye to all of my jiggly bits, but certainly to some of them!!!

ojb updates and a list of things to do...

I should officially be "out" for the Operation Jiggly Bits challenge.   I'm not sure how many servings of fruits/veggies I ate this week, and I know that I for sure didn't get all my water in each day.  Exercise was only playing tennis and that just doesn't cut it for me unfortunately.  So - I measured myself this morning and everything was pretty much the same.  I'm VERY PROUD of my fellow OJB challenger at Nutrition 101 who has made it below 140#!!!  I know what she means about working and working and working only to see a couple of pounds come off.  The older we get the harder we have to work to see results.

So - this is my challenge for the week.  My in-laws are coming in 1 1/2 week.  I've got stuff I need to get done to prep for them.  I also need to pay attention to these jiggly bits...although on my body, it's not so much jiggly bits as it is a "baby bump" for a non-existent baby.  If you know what I mean... 

So, my challenge is to write my to-do's each day and work towards meeting my daily goals.    My goal overall is to get to 140# by the end of the challenge along w/a waist measurement of 30".  Am readjusting my beach vacation goal to be at 135 pounds.

My Monday To-Do's:

Drink 64 oz water
Eat 5 servings of fruits/veggies - only got 3 servings in today....
Exercise - anything...just something  (played tennis for 2 1/2 hours)

Replace generic picture in "the boys" frame.  (I still have the picture that came with the frame...2 1/2 months later)
Mail my Rx refill
Make my Grocery Game List
clip coupons - will move to tomorrow's list!
Mail birthday cards to M & V
Send baseball pictures to GG, G&G, B, & J
take clothes to cleaners
go to grocery to get veggies for dinner
Flex Spending for J's visit to doctor
Make bank deposit

So, that's it for now!  My Monday posts are starting to have a recurring theme of how many excuses I have and/or what I didn't do to more forward on the OJB challenge.  But, to follow Carla's thought line of not beating ourselves up...I am DOWN from when I began the challenge and have just maintained the last 3 weeks.  So, it's not all bad, right?

ojb updates and more

What a week...what a month this has been! I feel like I'm just turning my wheels trying to keep up. We've had lots of unexpected visitors and it seems as if we should just put a revolving door on the front of the house, along with a sign that says, "Food and laundry services not included." Just joking...but it feels good to vent a bit. Our budget and routine are completely out of whack.

For the OJB challenge...I'm not excelling at this challenge! I truly expected to be all over this and getting into swimsuit shape. The good thing is that I'm not backtracking and there is still about 7 weeks away before we head to the beach.

Here are my numbers for the week. Everything has been the same now for 2 weeks straight.

STATS: Beginning....Current
weight: 142...142
Chest: 37.5...36.75
Waist: 31.5..31.0
@belly button: 34.5...33
hips: 39...38.75
thighs: 22.33...21.75
arms: 12 1/4...12

My husband left today for his annual golf trip with friends and will be gone for 5 days. I'm really wanting to get some of my stuff taken care of, to-do's crossed off the list, eat healthy meals, drink all my water, and get some good cardio in (something in addition to tennis...). I need to get my head and mind cleared and back to my "old self" of feeling in control and on top of things.

So, instead of allowing myself to get overwhelmed, I'm going to clean the clutter up from my house and my mind and start enjoying this beautiful weather. As it is, I'm letting this gorgeous Springtime get by me.

I'm signing off and spending a solid 8 minutes clearing kitchen clutter/papers before it's time to get the kiddos from school!

Ahhhhhhh...I already feel better!

operation jiggly bits - week 4

This past week was Spring Break and as I'd hoped we had absolutely nothing planned and were without a routine all week. We went to baseball's Opening Day on Monday, had friends over, went bowling, stayed up late, slept late and pretty much loved life during the whole week!

My OJB goal was to MAINTAIN this past week and that's what I did. Absolutely no changes! NOW....8 weeks from today we make our first of two trips to the beach for the summer. Trip #1 to the beach is adults only, and Trip #2 is us with the kids. So, I'm wanting to get to around 131 pounds by Trip #1 and to my goal weight by Trip #2 (which is 129). That means it's time to get serious.

The past 3 weeks I've implemented some wonderful habits that have been part of the OJB challenge...exercising, drinking lots of water and eating lots of fruits & veggies. Now it's time for me (and hubby too!) to take it up a notch and start working for some serious results. It's not going to be easy, but according to this website, if I keep my calories around 1200 each day (I think that equates to about 24 Weight Watcher points), and have moderate exercise each day, then I "should" meet my goals. The nice thing about this time of year, is that it's FUN to grill some chicken or fish and eat lots of fresh veggies and fruits.

My goals for this week are all the same challenges....lots of water, exercise and healthy eating. I want to cut out a lot of the crap though and eliminate a few glasses of wine that I'm drinking throughout the week. My goal this week is to end the day at 24 WW points. I'm going to allow myself to "eat" my Activity Points. If I don't see progress quickly enough, then I'll probably change my mind about that!

Here are my numbers showing Original, and...This Week:

weight: 142...142

Chest: 37.5...36.75
Waist: 31.5..31.0
@belly button: 34.5...33
hips: 39...38.75
thighs: 22.33...21.75
arms: 12 1/4...12

operation jiggly bits - week 3 check in

A VERY quick check in for my Operation Jiggly Bit check in. This is Spring Break week and we've been out of town...

First...as for my goals for last week. All were met and kept. The easiest? Meeting my exercise goals and drinking all of my water. Most challenging? Avoiding junk food and processed food! That is something that I will continue to work on and weed out of my diet!

Here are my numbers! I'll post my original along with this week's numbers.

weight: 142...142

Chest: 37.5...36.75
Waist: 31.5..31.0
@belly button: 34.5...33
hips: 39...38.75
thighs: 22.33...21.75
arms: 12 1/4...11 5/8

Last week, My 1/2 Dozen Daily posted information on finding out your frame size. I tell you what! That was an eye opener for me. I am 5'3 1/2" with a large body frame. My ideal weight is around 129 pounds. I've always "felt" like I should be low 120's for my ideal weight. In previous weight loss attempts, I get to 132 and feel GREAT, but think I need to lose 10 more pounds. That has always been when I've given up and gained all the weight back. Now I know that the weight where I feel really good (around 132#) is really close to my ideal weight!!! I've always picked a number out of hat and thought of what number I'd like to see on the scale. I've never taken into consideration that I have a large frame and that my ideal weight would be adjusted!

With this being Spring Break and us being so off-schedule, my goal for this week is MAINTENANCE! I want to drink my water every day (that's something I can easily control!), get my exercise where I can and make good food choices as much as possible!

operation jiggly bits - week two

ughhhhh....that's really all I can say on how I feel about this week's OJB results. I felt like I had a GREAT start to Week One, but had a disastrous finish! We were without running water in the kitchen for 3 days, so washing fruits and veggies, not to mention dishes, was very inconvenient. So - I didn't make the best food choices on those 3 days. Yesterday we had the water running again, but had a friend come for an over night visit from out of state. That led to more poor choices...a huge breakfast, chips & salsa, beer, wine, steaks, potatoes, bread, chocolate...the list could go on and on! I'm hoping that today's #s are not accurate since I had so much starchy food yesterday. But...here they are along with how I did meeting my goals for the week. Now THAT I did do good. So, let's start w/the goals first since those are good results, and then my numbers next.

Goals:
1. Drink 64 oz water each day -- DONE! This was easier than I expected. I filled up a huge pitcher (64+ ounces) each morning with water and just made sure that it was empty before the end of the day.

2. Exercise - DONE! Got 4 days of high intensity workouts and 3 days where I worked my abs and did some toning exercises.

Monday - ran 2.44 miles and lifted leg weights
Tuesday - 1 hour Boot Camp class, a 15 minute Abs class, & played tennis for 2 hours
Wednesday - Played tennis for 1-2 hours (can't remember), ran 2.3 miles, lifted leg weights, & completed 50 sit ups and 20 pushups
Friday - 1 hour Zumba class, 15 minutes Abs class

3. Avoid junk food and eat clean. I would say I ate more good food than junk food this week and I did get all my fruits/veggies in for the week. The key for me is to PLAN, PLAN, PLAN and have everything I need so that it's easy to grab something healthy when I'm hungry rather than grab junk. Gotta do better in this area!!

Here's an update to numbers for Week One:
Weight: 143.6 (started at 142)

Chest: 37.25" (started 37.5")
Waist: 31.25" (started 31.5")
@tummy: 33.25" (started 34.5")
Hips: 39" (started 39")
Thighs: 22.3" (started 22.3")
Arms: 11.75" (started 12.25")

My goals are the same for Week 2:
1. High intensity workout 3-4x
2. Abs & toning exercises 3-4x
3. Drink 8 glasses of water each day
4. Eat 5 servings of fruits/veggies each day
5. Avoid junk food & processed food
6. Report back on Monday of next week with updates

Thank you Carla for all of your encouraging words for all of us who are participating in your challenge. I'm looking forward to seeing great results at the end of Week Two!

operation jiggly bits update

Today I'd planned on doing updates for both budget/cash envelopes as well as OJB, but my computer is acting up and I'm having a hard time accessing my files. Luckily...I can get on the Internet!!! So, I'll work on my Excel later today and update my budget info tomorrow (hopefully!)

Operation Jiggly Bits - I'm off to a pretty good start and can see that just by making a few changes I'm already feeling better AND I'm noticing how many times throughout the day I have a tendency to grab junk food or soft drinks. I know that it's a process and if I were to do a 100% overhaul overnight, I'd probably get burned out. So I'm make slow and gradual changes that will stick. But, the important thing is that I'm more aware of what's going into my body. I feel great when I'm eating right and exercising, I don't feel great when I'm eating junk and being lazy.

Here's the scoop:

Monday
Breakfast: Green Monster
Snack: none
Lunch: grilled chicken on a tortilla w/lettuce and a little cheese, crackers & hummus and a Diet Coke
Snack: popcorn, 2 homemade sugar cookies
Dinner: shrimp, brown rice, asparagus
Snack: small piece of chocolate, glass of wine

Exercise: Ran 2.44 miles and lifted weights (legs only)

Happy about: I had 6 servings of fruit/veggies, almost all of my water, and worked up a sweat exercising

Disappointed with: My afternoon snack of junk

Tuesday
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled egg whites, string cheese
Snack: Green monster, crackers & hummus
Lunch: whole wheat bread w/turkey, cheese, lettuce, onion - Baked Lay's
Snack: 5 stalks celery & Laughing Cow cheese
Dinner: snack stuff - cracker & hummus, Fiber 1 bar, popcorn & a glass of wine

Exercise: LOTS!! 1 hour boot camp, 15 minute of abs/core toning, 2 hours of tennis

Happy about: got 6 servings of fruits/veggies, lots of exercise and I did drink 64 oz of water

Disappointed with: snack supper - should have made a healthy meal!

So that's it for today. This morning I played team tennis (got my bootie kicked), but didn't work up a sweat. I had a hard time resisiting some of the snacks that were brought to the match, so I'm headed to the gym now to run a couple of miles to burn off some of the sugar. And a Green Moster is in my future of an afternoon snack!

operation jiggly bits - week one

I'm excited to be participating in My 1/2 Dozen Daily's Operation Jiggly Bits ("OJB")! This challege couldn't have come at a better time. Just last week, I mentioned starting my "Burn the Swim Skirt" diet and blog. Since I'm going to participate in OJB, I'm just going to post my progress and updates here at Steady Plodding rather than try to manage 2 at one time. (I don't have that much time to spend blogging! lol!)

So, if you're interested, click the link above and head over to Carla's blog and take a look! It'll be a six week challenge beginning today. On Monday's I'll post my measurements/weight along with my goals for the week. I'll give a brief update on what the previous week was like and if I'm satisfied with the progress that I'm making.

Remember, the point of me doing this is to (1) feel better and be healthier and (2) to lose weight. I'm not 100% comfortable posting my weight/measurements for everyone to see...BUT, none of you really know me, so there's really nothing to lose. Right? Just no judging!!!! lol! Seriously, I think by writing it all down it will help me monitor my progress and to hold myself more accountable.

Where I am TODAY...

Height: 5'3" with a medium-athletic frame (wish I was small boned and petite, but I'm not!!)
Weight: 142

Chest: 37.5"
Waist: 31.5"
@tummy: 34.5"
Hips: 39"
Thighs: 22.3"
Arms: 12.25"

And where I want to be...(I don't anticipate meeting this goal in 6 weeks, but this is my goal by 6-15-10)

Height: 5'6" (just kidding!)
Weight: 128-130

Chest: 35.75"
Waist: 28"
@tummy: 29"
Hips: 37"
Thighs: smaller and more toned
Arms: smaller and more toned

My goals for this coming week:
1. Have 2 Water-Only days...no soft drinks and no wine on these days (planning for Tuesday & Wednesday)
2. Each day drink 64 oz water, eat 5 servings of fruit/veggies, eat as clean as possible
3. Work out (high intensity) 3 times and do abs/toning exercise 3 times


So, that's it for this week's Operation Jiggly Bits goals! Stay tuned...