Time to Hide the Scale

There are times the scale just has to be put away. Right now in my journey, my scale is causing me to get moody. Let’s face it, we know before we get on the stupid thing whether the number will be good or bad. How? Because we are the ones who make the choices in our life. No one forces us to eat bad things and no one forces us to eat clean. No one forces us to workout and no one forces us to skip workouts. WE CHOOSE what we will eat and how physical our days look. Therefore, the number on the scale should be no surprise.

So for now, I’m putting it away. I’m going to continue to move more and more. I will keep making better choices in the food areas. We leave on vacation in one month and I can do a lot more for myself in that amount of time!

Today I took the dogs on a long walk outside. They were in the kennel all weekend and were very happy to stretch their legs and go for a swim in the pond. We came home and did baths…everyone is better now! This afternoon I’ll meet Hub at the gym for a workout and we’ll go for a short bike ride tonight.
These are comparison pictures. The picture on the right was in 2009 and I think I was 300 pounds and comfortably in size 24. The picture on the left is from our daughter’s wedding just 2 years ago and I believe I was about 280. The purple dress was a size 22 but not loose.

OH…so I added a picture of me and our son! He was married at the end of March. I’m so excited to be walking down that aisle in a size 16 and could have probably worn the 14, but I didn’t,want the sleeves to be snug. SO hard to believe that this woman was going out of a size 24 not that many months ago.

Stay strong my friends…the end result will be SO worth it. I’m choosing to live!
Sheila

Hello Gloves!

We had a great weekend in Knoxville visiting our son and his new wife Britney. It’s a long drive and we had to drop dogs off in KY at the dog sitter, had dinner with our daughter and son in law David. We need to find a kennel here in Indy and a dog sitter. Toured five kennels so far and would only remotely consider one of them. I’m doing email and phone interviews this week…such a pain.

So I bought a couple pairs of gloves. One pair is for biking and the other for the gym. Honestly, I think they can be interchangeable….but whatever. . i’ve worn the biking gloves and they really help with my grip. In the gym and lifting, I haven’t tried wearing them. Maybe I feel stupid in them, I don’t know. But after today, I will wear the gloves. I would share a picture of my injury but It doesn’t really look like anything but a thumb. While lifting today and doing dumbbells at my chest…finishing a set..i got BIT, don’t really know how, but I do know it hurt real bad. It still hurts. If I had the ugly gloves on, there would be no injury. I’ve developed all kinds of callouses on my palms near my fingers because of the weights and sometimes if I forget to leave my rings at home, it really hurts. Hello gloves!!

This week I am focusing on more water intake….clean eating…and more cardio. Lifting just happens because I love it. . We have new bike helmets and installed water bottle holders on the bikes…and attached a carrier to my Jeep for transporting to the long trails.

Heading out for a ride! Have a great day!
Choosing to LIVE!!
Sheila

It starts in the Kitchen

Changes in my body…not good ones though. We see articles and posters that say that meeting your goals start in the kitchen. What?? So that means going to the gym isn’t enough? Yup! That’s exactly what they mean and I’m living proof that this is accurate information. My mom would pass out if I were to post a picture of my stomach…so I will prevent that from happening and just describe what’s going on here. I’m getting my workouts in but I have mentioned that my eating has been off track. Yup! My firm stomach has been replaced with a bit of fat…and I am NOT happy about that fact. Stupid carbs. Simple carbs. Bad for me.
I’ve been cleaning up the eating but still need to make changes. Today at the gym I did an entire AB workout. Ha ha. Might have to do that a couple times a week!

My dog Bufford loves to chew! My power cord to my laptop is not charging now…and there is some evidence of a cut on the one side…I never witnessed him chewing it, but I think he’s guilty. We buy him good chew toys, but I think he likes the feeling of the cord…or the color. . Shame on me for not puppy proofing the house.

Stay strong friends.
Sheila

Plans and Goals for Monday

The weather doesn’t look good for this week. Lots of rain in the forecast. We had planned to go for a 7 mile bike ride yesterday but my bike had a flat. So instead we ended up going shopping for an inter tube for my tire. There are dozens of bike trails here. Hubby bought a nice bike rack for my Jeep so we don’t have to ride on busy roads to get to the trails.

It’s Monday and time for GOALS.

Monday: Gym, core strengthening: blog!
Tuesday: Gym, basic strength
Wednesday: Cardio at gym: Blog
Thursday: Gym , arms
Friday: gym, legs. Blog!
Saturday and Sunday: Cardio

We are looking for a house to buy here in our Indy area. We have found a place but we are having the house inspected first, so we’ll see how that plays out. It’s an old farm house sitting on a couple acres. We still haven’t moved our furniture from our house in KY. Our caretakers have decided to purchase our house but we haven’t closed yet. Hopefully the timing on both houses works out perfectly, but I’m a pessimist…so I doubt.
It’s tax day! Are you all finished with your taxes? We have to file for an extension, our tax guy in KY called on Saturday and said he was missing something. It will be good when we get all our stuff here and hire a new tax guy so this doesn’t happen again.

Have a great week. Stay strong.
Sheila

Start weight: 315
Current weight: 228

Enjoy the Journey

There are times along my journey that are harder than others. Right now is my hardest moment on my journey, but I will embrace this moment and love where I’m at and grow from it. Throughout my life there were times of trials and “most” of those times I would do the opposite of what some expected with my trial. Instead of curling into the fetal position and letting the trial leave me feeling defeated and useless…I used it as my strength and became stronger for it. Why should this trial be any different?

Today is Sunday…and if you have read my blog for the past several months, you know that Sunday is my favorite day of the week. You see…I’m in love. When a person is in love, they can’t help but talk about that person in their life. That person for ME…is God. He is my rock and my strength in life. Some of you believe differently and my intent isn’t to EVER be preachy…if you ever feel that with me, then maybe there is some other reason. Since this is my favorite day of the week, then it seems a perfect day to mention things that are spiritual on my heart.

Trials….bring them on. They bring me joy. It gives me an opportunity to “let go” and be reminded that I am not in control. The times I DID control my life too much….I failed horribly. Those were the years of pain for me: years of obesity, guilt and shame. You see, everything else in my life during those years were full of good things…except that one area. Until I let go and let God help me forgive myself…the healing couldn’t happen.

So what about now? What is the issue with my journey? I love where I’m at on this journey. Sure I need to eat cleaner, but there is a lot of transition going on right now. I’m keeping active and getting cleaner things into my system each week. I’ll get back.

My husband loves his new job and that is a wonderful thing as that hasn’t always been the case. We have found a great church and have become involved with the Spanish ministries. We’ve been on the mission field in Central America a handful of times and feel we want to work with Spanish speaking people…but are working on learning the language. I’m not working a job but finding areas to volunteer my time and energy.

Stay strong my friends.
Sheila

The Challenge

The challenge in living stronger and healthier is adopting it as your life goal, not just a temporary fix. For years I watched my scale go up and down. Reading the fronts of magazines would sometimes tempt me to try a new diet. Friends would have success on a new plan so I would have to try it myself. Every attempt was met with short term success only to be followed by gaining the weight right back and then some.

Exercise was the same way. The infomercials would inspire me to try something new. Richard Simmons sweating tapes and others, but by the time six weeks delivery happened my inspiration was long gone. Real exercise classes worked better for me, but I always relied on meeting a friend for support. When that friend couldn’t be there, I slacked off.

Weight loss classes became the big thing for a while and I paid the big bucks to get weighed in each week along with others…who didn’t look to me like they needed to be there. When visiting doctors they would often recommend a lap band for someone my size. It was the big thing…and still is popular. But why would I do that? Why would I want to limit my portions for the rest of my life because my stomach has been rubber banned??  Seriously??

So what changed it for me? Learning to forgive myself and letting go of the guilt.  Realizing that my life means something and that for years I was slowly killing myself.     The exercise has become my encouragement to always stay focused and strong. My eating plan is getting cleaner as the weeks go by. Stress can’t be a excuse for poor eating because we always have those times in life.

Stay strong my friends. I’m choosing to live.
Sheila

No Excuses

Well it’s been a while. Guess once you get out of the habit of something, it’s hard to get back into the swing of things. My life really isn’t THAT busy now, but my hubby gets home really early since he doesn’t drive far to work..so the day goes really fast. I’m at the same gym I spoke of last time..it’s pretty small but it has plenty of what we need to get a good workout. I’m still going three to four times a week and have just finally begun adding in some zumba and other cardio strengthening classes on my gym off days…Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. I’m taking Sundays’s off. My diet is lacking…I’ve introduced carbs back in..so my weight certainly isn’t going down. Most days my weight is sitting between 228 and 230. I’m not thrilled. NO EXCUSES. I’m not getting enough cardio and I’m not really on an eating plan.

I’m not looking for sympathy for not meeting goals. Sure, life has been busy for me…we moved from KY to INdiana…our son got married…and we’re purchasing a house soon, which means a house renovation and finally the BIG move. But my goals haven’t been met simply because I haven’t been focused. It’s not rocket science…I know what to do and just haven’t been bothering to do it. Yep, you guessed it…i have been lazy.

Life will always throw us curve balls. This is just me trying to get back to business and remember my goals…..to never give up…to choose to LIVE stronger.

Stay strong.
Sheila

Start weight: 315
Current weight: 228

Monday’s Goals

Goals are SO important for a journey to be successful. I don’t always complete my goals, but without them I tend to get lazy. Today was my second day at our new gym and it’s a good fit. Let’s hope we end up buying a house near this gym because I can’t even imagine making another gym move anytime soon.

It’s time for Write it Down and DO it Up goals for this week!

Monday: Gym / Strength training / lifting
Tuesday: Gym / Strength training/ lifting
Wednesday: Gym / dreadful cardio or Wii cardio
Thursday: Gym / strength train
Friday: Gym / strength train
Saturday: Out of town
Sunday: Cardio /. Biking or Wii workout

Everything in life has changed for me and today I’m simply grumpy. I’m trying to find volunteer opportunities and nothing seems to be a good fit except for working with the kids in the Spanish ministry. Thursday I hope to be able to try out the food ministry and see if that’s a good fit.

Since I’m not a fan of cardio and struggle getting it completed each week, my goal this week is to go to the gym each day and either doing strength training or a cardio machine on my normal gym off days.

Make some goals and post them! Stay strong.
S

It’s Temporary

As I sit here drinking my coffee and listening to the birds sing in my crowded subdivision in a suburb of Indiana, I am reminded that my health is important…but this is a temporary journey.

THIS is not my home.

Stay strong.
Sheila

The Final Answer

Yesterday I toured the fifth gym since being here in Indiana. The first one suckered me but I didn’t have anything to lose, no contract or penalties. According to the internet there were just other chains which required long contacts. So we joined before we ever moved here. I’m not sorry for that decision. It was great to already have a place to work out without any strings attached while we learned the area…including traffic patterns.

The second gym was when I toured a second flashy gym across the road because it was cheaper and ended up not having a contract either. We decided to wait to make a move. Then I visited a smaller version of that same gym and it was more our speed but would close when their new flashy one opens in this town where we’re renting a home.

Last week I was extremely happy to report my findings of an old gym in this town. It was half the price per month but came with a one year contract and paying for the entire year upfront. Hubby went with me last Friday and he was not impressed or happy with this gym. We ended up not joining. This past week I toured yet another small older gym north of here and was hopeful. Tonight hubby went with me and we completed a great workout. He liked the gym and we agreed to join. It’s less than half the cost of the flashy gym per month and no contract.

The people in the gym were really nice and helpful. They have a handful of cardio machines and circuit but it’s mostly free weights…quite shocking actually. We will be looking at a couple of houses in the morning that we may consider purchasing. Both these houses are out of the suburbs and only about 15 minutes to work for hub. Either house would be 5 minutes from the new/older gym. We’ll see…both homes are over 100 years old but have already been completely redone on the outside and inside. It’s flat here…really flat. No more inclines on the bike.

The main thing is that I am not giving up this journey. Life may have just thrown me a curve ball, but I am choosing to live….and to live means I never quit fighting for my health.

Stay strong.
Sheila