No Axe Murderers Here. (Texas, Day One)

If you'd have told me a few years ago that I'd meet a bunch of people online and eventually travel halfway across the country, by myself, to meet them all? I would have laughed in your face. Heartily.

Especially because I'd made a hell of a lot of fun of my poor brother in law when he was in the wedding of a couple he'd met online playing World of Warcraft (okay, that is still pretty high-larious).

So Friday morning, when my husband dropped me off at the airport, his concern was almost palpable. But, I assured him, I have pretty good intuition. And every bone in my body told me that I needed to go. To Texas. To B.F.E. Texas. Where there was no cell phone reception. I told him that if they were all axe murderers, it was like the most elaborate axe murdering plot in all the history of axe murderers and I had to go because it was that good. He didn't think that was so funny.

I sat in the airport, nervous, but so excited - giddy, even. My flight was delayed. And the asshole who checks your boarding pass made me check my carry on. It wasn't too big, there were just a bunch of other assholes who took their TOO BIG carry ons onto the plane and I think he thought I wouldn't put up a fight. I barely avoided a Meet the Parents situation (bomb bomb bomb bombbomb bomb bomb bomb). But after six hours at an airport or on a plane, I was there.

Lisa met me at the Austin airport. We loaded my luggage into the 'minivan that can' and off we went to San Antonio, chatting the whole way like we've known each other forever. And we met these hookers for dinner.

Clockwise from left: Christy, Lisa, Amanda, Me, Tiffany, Kirsten, Thea (OMG, I just realized Elaine is not in the photo...she must have taken it.)

I'm pretty sure I had the best fajitas I have ever had in my entire life. Did you know that they put melted garlic butter on their tortillas in Texas? True story. Manna from Heaven.

And there was a mariachi band. Unfortunately they were only playing sad mariachi music. It was kind of pissing me off.

We rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and took off on the two hour trek to Christy's in the hill country. Leakey, to be exact. After following the wrong black Tahoe for a bit, we were finally headed in the right direction.

And, I witnessed the most amazing thunder and lightening storm I've ever seen. Crazy. CRAZY. Kudos to Lisa and the minivan that can for delivering us safely to the banks for the Frio River.

Our long anticipated Hooker Retreat 2010 weekend had officially begun...

Yippee Kay Aye!

Okay, I'm tired, and my son is really wanting my attention.

And I missed him SO MUCH, so I love that he wants to cuddle. LOVE.

But, quickly, here are a few quick takes from my trip to Texas. And trust me, there are lots of stories to be told and photos to show... be patient. They will come. Trust.

For now:

My first glimpse of Texas.

I got to stay here! I don't think it gets more beautiful, for reals.

There was a haircut. With kitchen shears.


And I think I may die if I do not obtain one of these for my living room.


I'm not kidding. I'm on eBay right now.

Team Shrinking Jeans Bash!

For the next 2 weeks over at the Sisterhood, we are having a Team Shrinking Jeans Bash! What is this Bash I speak of, you might be asking? It's a HUGE party with door prizes and an awesome Grand Prize of $400 cash! Yes, cash!

What is Team Shrinking Jeans anyway? Well, a group of 16 Sisters and one Brother are training to run the San Diego Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team in Training Program (TNT). Through TNT, Team Shrinking Jeans will be training for the race AND raising $48,900 for LLS. Isn't that amazing?

You can read more about our amazing team here, and find out why each of us is doing this here.

How can you join the Bash? Simple! Donate to Team Shrinking Jeans through our secure online team fundraising page. For every $5 you donate, you'll be entered to win one of over 30 fabulous door prizes. If you donate $25, not only will you get 5 chances to win door prizes, but you'll also be entered to win the granddaddy of all prizes: CASH!

Did you know?

Every 4 minutes one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer.

An estimated 139,860 people in the United States will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2009. New cases of leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma account for 9.5 percent of the 1,479,350 new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States this year*.

Overall incidence rates per 100,000 population for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are almost identical for data reported in 2008 and 2009 [(leukemia 12.2, 2009 vs.12.3, 2008); (NHL, 19.5, each year); (Hodgkin lymphoma, 2.8, each year); (myeloma, 5.6, each year)].

Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma will cause the deaths of an estimated 53,240 people in the United States this year. These blood cancers will account for nearly 9.5 percent of the deaths from cancer in 2009 based on the 562,340 total cancer-related deaths.

Every ten minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents nearly 146 people each day, or more than six people every hour. Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20. In general, the likelihood of dying from most types of leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma decreased from 1996 to 2005 (the most recent data available).

*Facts and statistics from Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma Facts 2009-2010, June 2009.

Those are some pretty eye-opening statistics, huh?

So head on over and join in the Bash! Check out the fabulous prizes, click on over and donate, and be sure to check in everyday for Happy Hour!

Shrinking Jeans Olympics

Today marks the start of the most revered, gut wrenching sports event in the world. Yes, the Olympics...THE SHRINKING JEANS OLYMPICS.

We just wrapped up our Rethink Your Shrink challenge (bye bye five pounds and HELLO to normal BMI!) and during the next two week, we will test our athletic prowess (and yes, we're totally doing Wii Fit Hula Hoop) in many feats of strength and endurance.

This mini challenge is open to everybody! If you've never joined us for a challenge, this is the perfect time to hop on board. You can participate in all events, or just a few. You are driving your own bus.

So, head on over to The 'hood (You haven't joined? Dude. It's free. DO IT.) and sign up for some events - and for a broader outline of how this mini challenge works, read this.

Today, I am participating in both the Three Mile Run and the Wii Fit Hula Hoop. So, I need to get going! I hope you take the chance to go check out this super fun challenge...and join in!

Ready. Set. GO!

Today, January 31, officially kicks off my training with Team Shrinking Jeans and Team in Training for the San Diego Rock & Roll Half Marathon.

OMGthisisreallyhappening!?

Am I scared? Uh, yeah. But not as much as I thought I'd be. Our coach, Coach Joe, is so awesome. In fact, the whole Team in Training support team is - um - AWESOME. We have guidance through everything: the training, the fund raising.

With that much backup, it's hard NOT to feel confident.

Today, I visited the site of my honored hero, Shelby.


I am running this race in her honor. She has an amazing story - diagnosed with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia at four, three years of chemo and considered cured in 2007. Today, she is a beautiful, vibrant fourteen year old. Unfortunately, she does suffer from lingering effects of her treatment - but through it all, she maintains a positive outlook.

Perspective, people. If Shelby can beat ALL, and remain positive through her day to day struggles, I can train hard, finish the race and raise a ton of money for people like Shelby - for research, to aid in their treatment, to make THEIR lives better.

So.

You know it's coming. And I'm going to become more and more obnoxious as the fund raising deadline approaches.

Do you have a few bucks to spare? I know money is tight right now, but it's TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

You need more? Here are some reasons you should consider giving to LLS:

• An estimated 912,938 people in the United States are living with, or are in remission from, leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma.
• Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer.
  
• Every 10 minutes, someone dies.
• Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under the age of 20.
• Lymphomas are the most common blood cancers and incidence increases with age.
• The survival rate for myeloma is only 37.1 percent.

What does the LLS do with the funds raised? Glad you asked - here's a snippet from the Team in Training website:

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. We have invested more than $680 million in research since 1949 - over $69 million in 2009 - specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Last year alone, LLS made 4.9 million contacts with patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Wow. How humbling and inspiring to be part of this effort!

And. And and and....

I'm going to sweeten the deal. Every donation between today and the end of February (that's the 28th) will be entered into a drawing for either a $25 dollar gift card to Amazon, or an amazing coffee gift pack of my favorite Seattle coffees! Winner gets to choose!

How to donate?

Make a secure credit card donation here, on my Team In Training fund raising page.

Send me a check made out to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society - email me at heather@shrinkingjeans for snail mail info.

Lastly, if you own a business - The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans is offering amazing advertising opportunities - and all proceeds go directly to LLS. Please email me if you'd like a copy of our media kit.

Whew! Thanks for reading. That is all...for now.

Revolution.

I'm over here today.

I haven't been blogging about weight loss much or at all over here since I started contributing over at the Sisterhood, but I just have to say that I'm about 3 pounds away from losing 20 since March.

I KNOW.

It's not going super fast, but it's going. I'm starting to see the outline of my former self. Even though I know my body will never get back to exactly where it was pre-baby, that's just fine with me.

So, that said, I just wanted to once again spread the word about our new challenge over at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. It's called Rethink You Shrink, and it. is. amazing.

If you want to lose some weight...if you're trying to work on your self image...if you're trying to get in shape - check it out.

Seriously. I'm not kidding. This is some good stuff.

Guess What?

I haven't decorated the tree yet.

Oh wait. We don't even have a tree yet...

I haven't done any Christmas shopping except for G-Rex. Even though I spent eight hours shopping yesterday with Tiff and Jenn. By the way, I think I want to live in Toys R Us. I must have been deprived of toys as a kid because I couldn't tear myself away from the Little People, Playmobil or Imaginext. I am STILL waiting for my Barbie Dream House (my friend Andrea had the sweetest Barbie setup as kids. And I'm pretty sure we were still playing Barbies till we were twelve or so. My mom didn't like me to have Barbies, so I needed my fix. This is the longest aside, ever. Shoot.).

I haven't managed to get all the vacation laundry put away yet. I have this lofty goal of cleaning out the closets before I store everything, and making a trip to Goodwill. But as of right now, it looks like all my closets threw up.

I have not done any Christmas baking. Or crafts. Probably a good thing about the baking, because I kind of have a problem with baked goods. As in, they seem to attach directly to my ass.

I am all sorts of disorganized and unmotivated right now.

But, I have kept running. I HAVE TO. Because I have committed to run a freaking half marathon in June. The San Diego Rock and Roll 1/2, with Team in Training (more on that later). So, fear of humiliation and vomiting during the race is my motivation there. Whatever works. Plus, I finally get to meet my girls from the Sisterhood in the flesh. It's going to be stellar. I seriously cannot wait.

I have been reading. Vacation reading, my favorite. I read Push (the novel the movie Precious is based on) in two hours. It made my heart hurt. Don't get me wrong, I completely and wholeheartedly recommend it, but it was gutwrenching.

On the other end of the spectrum, I read both of Chelsea Handler's books, My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands and Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. I LOVE HER. Anybody who can make me belly laugh in public whilst reading is good, very good. Just a warning. If you are easily offended by sex, language, sex, drinking, equal opportunity racial profiling, sex or bodily functions, you may not like her books. They're like reading the diary of your crazy college roommate. Because I never did anything in college in a drunken stupor that was completely stupid. No, not me.

Tomorrow, I will go pick up my Christmas cards, which I managed to design and order online today. I will go to the god awful post office and buy stamps.

Perhaps, if I can completely channel Martha Stewart (or at least Rachael Ray), I will bake some sugar cookies to decorate.

And I will keep them far away from the dogs.

Shrink-a-Versary Extravaganza!

There are some VERY exciting things happening over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.

I'm serious. VERY EXCITING.

Tomorrow we start our newest challenge - running from October 28 through December 16th. That's seven weeks to whip your heinie into shape before the Holidays!

And there's more. This challenge coincides with the Sisterhood's one year anniversary. There will be much celebration. And giveaways galore.

So, if you've been looking to drop a few pounds (or stone) and get fit with some serious Sisterhood (boys are welcome too!) support, make sure you visit the Sisterhood tomorrow for all the details.

Attention, Please!

Hey peeps.

As you know, I've been having a torrid affair with my OTHER internet home, The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.

Well, I have to come over here to let you know, that if you've been kicking around the idea of losing some weight, have we got the challenge for you. Shrink for Good. Not only will you be challenged to lose weight, you'll be donating food to your local food bank in the amount of pounds you've dropped. Cool, huh? Please go and read all about it - you'll be inspired, I promise. And by the way, you DON'T have to sign up with Weight Watchers to do this challenge. If you don't want to spend the money, or can't afford it, you should try Spark People (it's free!).

And, if you've just been wanting to work on your fitness, and you are the owner of a Wii Fit, we're also starting the 30 Day EA Active Challenge tomorrow. If you haven't tried EA Active, well, it's a hoot. And it's a good workout. I promise (all these promises today, but I'm SO EXCITED!).

In other news, I really do have a lot to write about personally , but am struggling with HOW to write about it. I've literally sat, staring at my computer screen for hours, knocking out drafts and then deleting them. I know writing would help me sort out my head, but how much is too much to share?

How do you decide what to broadcast out into cyberspace and what you keep to yourself?

Drumroll, Please...

Today's' the day!

If you don't know already, I'm one of the newest contributors at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, along with Christie. We found out on Sunday, and since then have been caught up in a whirlwind of technology and general craziness. Not to mention getting to know our other Sisters (and Brother) better.

Let's just say last night we had a chain on GMail that was over 100 emails long. Good times, good times!

We're starting up a couple of new challenges soon, one with Weight Watchers called Lose for Good and another with EA Active for Wii. Check 'em out! If you're interested in losing weight, getting fit, or just being healthier in general, there is no time like the present, and the Sisterhood is AWESOME. For reals.

I'll be blogging over here about my fitness and weight loss adventures, so be sure to hop on over once and a while.

So, after all the buildup, that's my news! No, not the lottery, my brother is not getting married (Andrea, I was rolling on the floor over that guess) and I don't have a new job.

But after getting the news on Sunday, I kind of felt like I'd won the lottery, and after getting to know my new team over the last few days, I'm pretty sure I actually did.

Habitual

A week ago, I started forcing myself into teaching myself some healthy habits. One week in, and how am I doing?

Well, if I'm being honest with myself, I'd give myself a C+. I'm doing decent on the water, crappy on the crunches and great with not eating after 9 pm, running and no fast food.

And the fast food has been hard. Hard. Not because I'm craving it, but for the convenience. Sometimes its hard to go into a Subway when you're on the go with a very active 18 month old. Usually, by the time we get our food, I have him hooked by the armpits in the crook of my arm, legs and arms flailing, screaming COOKIE!

I'm thinking I'm going to franchise a Subway and make it a drive through as my next career. Seriously. Moms everywhere would thank me!

To counteract the knee jerk reaction to hit a drive through, I've made sure to pack healthy snacks in the car, so, if necessary, we can wait till we make it home and I can make lunch. So, as a double bonus, I'm not spending as much.

More to go towards my reward at the end of this challenge! I have pretty much decided on this skirt from Gock's Frocks. My husband will probably accuse me of dressing like a kindergarten teacher, but I love it! I will try not to wear it with Crocs or Birkenstocks. But I can't promise anything.

One more thing this week, I started using Spark People. It is free (FREE IS GOOD!), and I like it better than Weight Watchers - the site is much easier to use, and you can set fitness goals as well as nutrition. Plus, you can make charts and graphs to analyze your eating habits. So far, so good. It always helps me to have a place to write down what I'm eating. Definitely makes me more accountable.

No numbers this week, but I promise, they're good. We'll save that for the grand finale in a couple of weeks!

Twenty - One

New challenge at the Sisterhood and I'm liking it. Here's why:

We're focusing less on the scale and more on healthy living. Let me rephrase - I think the Sisterhood is always looking at health, but I tend to get wrapped up in how much I weigh.

It became very clear to me when a sixteen year old told me yesterday that it's not the numbers on the scale. It's how your clothes fit.

And she's right. I know this.

Yee-ouch. Nothing like being put in your place by a teenager (and also a good reminder not to obsess about my body in front of a kid - no need to send her down my body hatred path).

For the next three weeks, I'm going to be focusing on creating healthy new habits. The thought it, it take three weeks to make something stick. I don't want to go too crazy, so I'm sticking with five habits, and they are:

1) Drink water - at least 64 ounces a day. This sounds easy, but for me it is a challenge. I forget to drink water. Plus, I'm not crazy about the taste. But, I will learn to like it. I will trick myself by lacing it with lemon or cucumber slices.

2) Not eating after 9 pm. Most of my comfort binging goes on after dark. I know it's bad. All that food hanging out in my gut while I sleep with nowhere to go but my ass. If I can pull this off, I have a feeling weight loss may come easier for me.

3) No fast food. Period. Not even McDonald's soft serve. My heart just broke a little. (One caveat, I can have Subway - with no mayo).

4) Run three times weekly. I am already doing this, but making it a habit will help it stick after I complete my 5K in September.

5) Do 100 crunches daily. This is the only way I'm going to chip away at my leftover baby belly. Which I can't really call a baby belly as my 'baby' is 18 months old. Seriously, it's the front butt. I could pull off mom jeans like a rockstar right now. And that's not a good thing.

One thing I'm not going to do is post my weight on this blog weekly. Here's the plan. I will say what my weight is today, then at the end of this challenge, it will be discussed again.

So, today, I weigh 179, which is up from the end of last challenge. Blast it! I blame it on the Burger King I ate yesterday. And the double chocolate zucchini bread. Which was packed up and sent to B's work this morning. I don't need that in the house staring me down every time I enter the kitchen.

Another thing is I want to reward myself at the end of this challenge. If I can get down to 175 in three weeks, I get to do or buy something fun.

Any suggestions? Can't be too pricey, I'm on a budget, but I want to splurge on myself just a little.

Results (Kinda)

Final weigh in for Shrinking Days of Summer was today.

It was bittersweet. Yes, I lost a little weight and a few inches. This is good. But it's not AS MUCH as I was hoping for. I was hoping the team thing would work a little better.

But then I realized it DID work, in that I had all the support in the world. A virtual ear when days were tough. If I reached out, someone always responded with a word of encouragement. ALWAYS.

So, while the scale may be fighting me for each pound, I have also gained something truly wonderful, a great support system.

Thanks ladies - you're the BOMB.

So, final numbers:

Starting Weight:178.8
Last Week's Weight: 177.9
Today's Weight: 177

And, I also did my measurements:

Bust: So not telling. I am still breastfeeding so I assume they will deflate at some point and then I will miss them. But seriously, over the big boobs. Totally overrated.

Waist:
Start: 35"
End: 33"

Hips:
Start: 42"
End: 41"

I have decided to ditch the Weight Watchers Online. I seem to have a mental block against it. I have gone on and off of WW so many times over the years, I need a change. I am looking into Spark People, it is free, and one of my girlfriends is trying it right now. I'll let you know what I think as soon as I have a chance to dig in and have a look.

And, I am still running. I'm on week 4 of the C25K and it's going well. Not just well, great. The workouts are challenging and I can feel my endurance building. Love that.

So, the journey continues. I have a little over four months before I go to Kauai, and though I know I won't be wearing a bikini, I would like to put on a bathing suit sans a t-shirt and shorts over the top.

I want a tan!

Um...Yeah...What?

Some things just cannot be explained.

For instance, my body. It's freakin' mental. I seriously just don't get it. This week, I exercised less (but still got a few runs in), hurt my back and was less mobile, and ate some serious crap. Well, not crap, really. One of my friend's husbands is the pastry chef here. And we went to dinner at their house and he made BANANA COCONUT BREAD PUDDING. Yeah. Like I could pass that up.

Clearly, I should not have lost weight this week. But I did. Ummmm. Okay? What?

So, the numbers:

Starting Weight: 178.8
Last Week's Weight: 178.6
This Week's Weight: 177.9

I am just at a loss with how to proceed. I'm going to keep on running. I need to take a hard look at how I'm eating. Maybe too much sodium? Maybe eating too late in the day (I went to bed earlier this week on account of the back killing me)?

So, that's me for this week...

And....

GOTEAMBLUE!

What The?

I'm not even going to get mad this week, because OHMYLORD, this is ridiculous.

How, HOW, do you gain 3.1 pounds in one week? HOW? Did I eat rocks? Not that I can recall.

Adding to my frustration, it was a holiday weekend, and I did not indulge. When we had strawberry shortcake, I only ate strawberries. I watched portion sizes. I tried not to eat dinner as late and ate lots of fruit and veg.

I exercised. Oh, did I exercise. Six out of seven days.

So, really, what gives?

Rant over, now to numbers.

Starting Weight: 178.8
Last Weeks Weight: 175.5
Today's Weight: 178.6

Almost back to where I started. So not cool.

Okay, regrouping, deep breaths. I will not destroy my scale. Repeat. I WILL NOT DESTROY MY SCALE.

Clearly, the best option is to keep on eating healthy and exercising. So I will.

Though it's tempting to hit the drive thru when those are the weeks that the weight comes off.

Ummmm.

Oh yeah, GOTEAMBLUE. Hope you ladies did better than I did this week!

Not a Shocker

After the craptastic week I've had, I haven to say I'm not entirely surprised that I'm up a bit on the scale this week. Not as much as I thought, but still, a gain.

Starting Weight: 178.8
Last Week's Weight: 176.1
This Week's Weight: 176.8

To be perfectly honest, my food choices were all about comfort and not about health this week. We were entertaining five out of seven days, and then the other two were unfortunately all about convenience and trying to recuperate. I didn't get nearly enough exercise this week. My body is not thanking me. Not at all.

I wish I could say that at least I enjoyed all the food...pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, cake, bacon, pancakes. Beer. VODKA (that was absolutely a necessity, trust).

But I didn't. I didn't even taste it. Just down the hatch to try to make myself feel better.

News flash...that does not work.

So, this week's lesson - food does not equal comfort. And I have to give a big shout out to my wonderful Team Blue, who offered lots of support this week. It really did help, because I could very easily be in jail right now if you all hadn't talked me down a bit!

Time to regroup and focus.

GO TEAM BLUE!

I Broke My Scale. No. Really.

Today's my weekly weigh-in. I got up, peed (of course, that's an extra .25 pounds sometimes!), discarded every thread of clothing and stepped on the scale.

I looked down at my feet as the scale went from 120 to 153 to 83 and even up to around 200. It wouldn't stick anywhere (it is digital). Clearly, something was amiss.

I'd had this problem earlier in the week and had replaced the batteries. So I knew they should still work properly. I tried to recalibrate the scale. No dice.

At this point I'm pretty frustrated. How can I get my numbers in to my team? Ah, the Wii Fit!

Still undressed, I headed into the living room (yes, the blinds were closed) and hit the button on the Wii. I used it last night so I knew the disk was still there.

Right?

NO.

I texted B to ask where he'd put it - I was surprised he'd even taken it out, as he prefers his XBox to the Wii. But maybe he'd gotten bored and broken out the Mario Kart after I'd hit the sack last night.

But then I got to thinking. I'd seen G messing around in the cupboard where all the electronics are housed. Could he have taken the disk...no...not possible. How could he turn on the Wii, hit the eject, and pull out the disk? He's only 17 months old. That's a little complicated.

Never underestimate a toddler. I found the disk 45 minutes later when I picked up his blankie in the corner.

So, to make a long story longer, I weighed myself on the Wii. For the sake of accuracy, I took the amount lost on the Wii from last Wednesday and subtracted it from last week's scale weight.

Drumroll, please...

Starting Weight: 178.8
Last Week's Weight: 177.6
Today's Weight: 176.1

The Wii Fit saved the day!

And a new scale is on order from Amazon.

I am actually surprised I lost, the way I feel this morning. I'm heavy bodied, leaden. But I'll take it.

And no, I have not finished reading Master Your Metabolism, I'm ALMOST there. I just can't read as quickly these days. But, as a teaser, I'll tell you this:

Pretty much everything our food is packaged in is poison.
Soy milk is bad.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is the devil.
Organic is the only food to be ingested.

Yeah, I'm being a little dramatic, but frankly, the book is scaring me. I don't know how realistic a diet it would be for me, but I will finish and give more serious and thorough synopsis.

GO TEAM BLUE!!

Shrink Into Summer - The Finale

How quickly eight weeks have flown by!

I started this Sisterhood challenge with a goal that may have been too lofty. Fifteen pounds. That's almost two pounds per week.

I don't have a personal trainer and chef living with me, everyone. What was I thinking?!

But, I have learned some things about myself. Such as:

- I will never enjoy working out, but once I get myself started into the workout, I feel SO MUCH BETTER.

- Next challenge, I will take my measurements, because I feel smaller, even though the scale doesn't reflect as much.

- When I am trying to lose weight, I should never ever bake cookies, cakes, cupcakes or pies. Or bread. Because while I would love to say I have self control, I have absolutely none when it comes to fresh baked goods.

- I have a love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels and her unsupportive sports bras.

My results? Since you asked, fine. Here they are:

Starting Weight: 182
Last Weeks Weight: 179.6
This Weeks Weight: 178.0
Percentage Lost (if I did my math right, HA): 2%

Almost two pounds! Hollah! Pretty good considering I ate the meal my husband prepared for my birthday, which included lots of butter, alfredo sauce, pasta and bread.

But he made me dinner. Which is huge. So I ate it.

Now I'm waiting for the next Sisterhood Challenge...bring it ON!

(Kinda) Happy Dance

I worked extra hard this week. Some days, two workouts a day (no joke) - Stroller Strides AND Shredding. And I've been tracking my food on Weight Watchers. So I was hoping, praying for some movement.

And I got some movement. Just a little. I'm semi-satisfied, but also kind of wondering what exactly I need to do to see some solid results. If I were not still breastfeeding, I'd be considering my old school 1200 calories per day diet. Yes, it sucks - but in the past that's the only thing that has worked for me consistently.

My OB did tell me that some women do not lose their pregnancy weight till after ending breastfeeding. He said it's a small percentage but it does happen. Hmmmm. If I hear one more person say that they didn't even have to diet or work out, that breastfeeding 'melted' away their baby weight, I will seriously crack some heads. Seriously.

So, on to results:

Starting Weight: 182
Last Weeks Weight: 181
This Weeks Weight: 179.6

I heave a sigh of relief as I sink back down into the 170's - this time, I want to stay here!

The workouts have been making me feel SO much better, mentally and physically, so I'm leaning on the belief that if I just keep pushing myself, I'll start to see some more drastic movement.

And if that isn't motivation enough, G has decided to 'help' me work out. I figure an extra 30 pounds of resistance is most likely a good thing!

Wallowing

Weigh in today.

And I'm so disappointed I don't even want to write about it. But I will, because I said I would. If you haven't guessed, I'm up. I don't know exactly what to attribute it to (probably food, duh!), but I'm cranky CRANKY cranky.

That, paired with a toddler who is trying to bite everything within grabbing distance, is not a good thing. Plus, he dumped my coffee on my keyboard this morning. Lukewarm, thank God. And yes, totally my fault, I need to remember he can now reach pretty much anything on the desk. But now my office smells like coffee and vanilla creamer. Which smells gross and sticky, if something can SMELL sticky.

He spilled the coffee after I'd weighed myself and decided I needed to sign up for Weight Watchers Online. I need some way to track my food. My brain APPARENTLY doesn't do that itself. So. I was signing up when G decided he was in need of my attention NOW and dumped the coffee.

Hmmmm. What else happened this week? I'm still doing Stroller Strides, and I absolutely love it. Real mommies and real bodies. The workouts are hard, I'm all clammy from sweating my face off this morning. Good stuff.

So maybe I can say I'm gaining muscle. But I don't need ANY MORE weight. The Wii Fit says I'm almost obese. OBESE. I want my Mii's muffin top to go away...I want MY muffin top to go away.

Then we had the incident where I was sitting on the floor in my sports bra playing with my darling child. He sidles up to me and grabs fistfuls (yes, fistfuls) of my stomach and looks at me all confused-like. "Tummy?"

I felt like saying, "No honey, that's mommy's second set of boobs. She's growing utters. She has some on her back too."

TMI? Okay. Sorry!

Anyway, weight:

Starting: 182
Last Week: 178.4
Today: 181 (DUN DUN DUNNNNN)

And now, I'm off to the kitchen to put up a fat picture of myself on the fridge as deterrent. And maybe wrap the fridge in barbed wire.