BLT4ever

After 16 weeks of being OP (On Plan), my current weight loss is at 72 lbs!? That is FANTASTIC, and I am so happy with my results!? Back in the beginning I felt so daunted by the days ahead that I wished I could just jump ahead to 40, 50 pounds or more lost.? I am pleasantly surprised to find myself where I currently am.? In other words, the time is just flying by.

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Things haven’t by any means been easy for me, but neither have then been panstakingly difficult.? I have not gotten this far without many hours of hard work and dedication to my plan of eating well, though.? While not being a ‘walk through the park’, I have been enjoying the journey and give all praise to God for giving me the strength and the courage needed along the way!

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I am so often asked what it is I am doing to lose weight, that I thought I should post a blog about it.? I haven’t written about it in many moons and I now do things a bit differently than I did then.? I think that the best way for me to do this is by writing down here what I do in one day.? I do each of these things Monday through Saturday.? The only difference being that I don’t walk the boys to school on Saturday’s.? Sunday’s are my ‘off day’.? I allow myself to have one meal on Sundays where it doesn’t matter what I eat.? I stay within a serving size though, no more ‘pigging out’ for me, ever.? Also, as far as exercising goes, I don’t get in anything structured on Sundays.? The type of exercise I get in on Sundays is more along the lines of playing outside with the kids.? For instance, I will go swimming, ride my bike?or roller skate with the kids.? I will often get in a walk still, though.

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I really enjoy GoogleEarth and used it for fun to show you a few things from my day.? The first pic here is of my immediate neighborhood.? The school?is our elementary school.? As you can see, I have marked our home.?Each morning I walk the boys to school for a warm up and so begins my daily journey.

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7:20 am: ?I walk the boys to school and then speed walk the .6 of a mile around the school block.

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7:35 am:? I fill my 80 oz. water bottle using the filtered spigot on the fridge, and then use it to fill my big glass with ice water.? I take it out to the garage and turn on my radio.

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7:40 am:? Still warmed up from my fast walk around the block,?I do 40 minutes of strength training on my Hoist gym machine, which includes 60 side crunches and 120 regular crunches on the machine.? I end this by doing 40 deep leg lunges using my aerobic step.

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8:20 am:? I make my favorite breakfast, which I call scrambled omelet (the recipe is posted on my blog, pay attention to the notes I made there since I can’t edit it).?

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8:30 am:? I eat my scrambled omelet with a cup of pineapple, for a total of 250 calories.? It’s a very filling and satiating breakfast that I have come to look forward to.

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10:30 am:? I eat a snack that is right around 100 calories.? Sometimes this will be a 90 calorie granola bar, sometimes an apple or a banana, sometimes a cup of lowfat yogurt, sometimes 100 calories worth of pretzels (yes, I count them out), or a 100 calorie pack of some cookies or chips.?

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12:00 pm:? I get in 20 minutes of cardio.? This is most often?by swimming (this is my favorite and do it for hours if I can), riding my elliptical bike in the garage?gym?, or working out to my ‘Biggest Loser’ DVD.? I also sometimes like to get in a workout by kicking & punching the Wavemaster standing punching bag we’ve got in the garage gym.

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12:30 pm:? I gather together my lunch and eat.? This is varied, depending on what we’ve got in the house.? Lunch is always 300-350 calories though.? For an example though, today I had 5 slices of turkey breast lunch meat (no bread), 1 string cheese and a 100 calorie pack of Dorito’s.

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1:00 pm:? Around about this time, my water bottle is empty and I start filling my glass directly from the fridge itself.? All told, throughout each day I will drink about 120 oz. of water.? No, this was not an easy thing to do at first.? Before January 7th all I ever drank was diet sodas.

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3:00-3:30 pm:? I have another snack.? My choices are the same as they were for my morning snack, always keeping at the 100 calorie range.

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Now this is where my routine varies depending on the day of the week.? My youngest son has karate Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:15-5:00.? My next youngest son has karate Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:15-7:00.? They both have karate on Fridays?from 4:45-5:30, and Saturdays it is?11:15-12:00.?

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Taking these times into consideration, while the boys are in karate I take 40 minutes to walk around the empty lot outside of the karate building.??Most often, my oldest son (he’s 14) walks with me and helps me to keep my pace.? I get in six laps for a total of 2.4 miles.

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Often I will drop the boys off at karate and walk at home on my treadmill where I can vary the incline and speed rates though.? It all depends on my mood for the day, whether I decide to walk at karate or at home on the treadmill.? Wherever I walk I make sure I get in 40 minutes.

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On the days we’re going early to karate, I make dinner after we get back.? On the days we’re going to karate late, I make dinner before we go and we eat when we get back.? I sincerly believe that eating?after my workouts helps tremendously.? It helps to curb your appetite, and it also helps you to burn more calories.

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Most evenings we’re eating dinner right around 7:00-7:15 pm.? I don’t?make myself anything special, I?eat whatever it is that I happen to make for the entire family.? My calories here are around the 400 range.? Sometimes as high as 500, but never over.??I eat a normal sized portion,?I always pay attention to serving sizes now and I measure when I am in doubt.? I?have a special plate?my sons made for me that I use.? It is smaller than the regular plates.? I believe it is?the size of a salad plate.? That helps to trick my brain into thinking it’s having a large plate full of food.? It’s something I read about somewhere and thought it worth trying.? It works! Usually, right around 7:30, but always right after dinner, we go outside and ‘play’ for about a half an hour.? I’ll roller skate or ride a bike with the kids.? Often my hubby will come too.

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I do not have anything else to eat after dinner.??This was hard for me at first because I was used to eating snacks while sitting in front of the tv.? I no longer crave them though, and have no problems going to be slightly hungry.??Not truly hungry, mind you,?just a little.? That is good though.? Bob Greene says it is during that time that we are?burning fat, and I am just fine?with that!? While I am watching tv with the family, instead of snacking, I have 2-3 glasses of iced?Arizona diet green tea.??I’ve never been a tea drinker before, and I won’t drink any other kinds of tea.? This stuff is so darn good though!!!??The benefits are great too.? I urge you to do a little research yourself and get started drinking it too.? I recommend sticking to the diet version though, so as not to get any extra calories.? That is something you want to be extra careful with, watching what you drink, because these are calories that we tend to overlook. Basically, I eat 1200-1500 calories a day and exercise for at least two hours a day.

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I am incredibly blessed to have the workout equipment that I have, and to be able to physically use it all.? I will forever give thanks to the Lord for all that He has given to me.?

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I do want to say though, that if you do not have access to a gym or similar equipment, please get out there and get walking!? Walking costs us absolutely nothing and it is so very good for you.?

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I hope that I have helped someone here by writing this lengthy novel.? It is truly my intention to inspire if I can!? If you’ve stuck with me through it?all, I thank you!??????

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Aside of someone in my family being diagnosed with a terminal illness, or dying, I was presented yesterday with the worst possible news.? I am now in a great turmoil with trying to decide what to do.

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As most of you know by now, my husband is in the Marine Corps.? What you don’t know is that he has been away from home about half of the nearly 19 years that he’s been in.? We have to deal with deployments on a regular basis.? The worst of it was during the years 2001-2004.? He missed the first three years of life for our youngest child, to include each of his birthdays.? During those three years he was home once for two weeks leave and one time he was home between deployments for about four months.

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We’ve been lucky these past two years, since he came home from Iraq the last time in March 2005.? He hasn’t had to go anywhere except for a school here and there.? Most of them only lasting a couple of weeks at a time.? I can deal with that, no problem.? A few weeks is nothing.? Hell, a few months is nothing to us either.

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Last night after dinner, we were all having a talk to decide whether or not to home school our oldest two.? When we finished with that, he asked the kids to leave and me to stay.? He then proceeded to say, ‘You know I’ve not had to deploy in a long time.’? Of course I knew that meant he was going to have to leave.? I just wanted to know when.? But it’s a lot more complicated than that this time around.? It isn’t just a matter of when.

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He says to me, ‘Well, it depends.? I can go in September for seven months.? Or I can go next February for thirteen months.’? I said, ‘First of all, go where?’? Which was of course, a stupid question and he said, ‘Where do you think?’? I replied, ‘Iraq of course.? Now tell me, why would I choose the?thirteen month deployment over the seven month deployment.? That’s just stupid.? Of course I’d choose the seven months.’

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Well, apparently it isn’t as easy as it at first appears, to make that decision.? If he goes for the shorter deployment of 7 months, it will be as an advisor to the Iraqi military in Baghdad and it would be a much more dangerous position than the 13 month tour of duty at a regular base out in the middle of the Iraqi desert.? Which, is dangerous enough.

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There is no third option.? I have to choose from these two, and because he isn’t guaranteed to get the one he prefers, we’ve got to decide soon.? The sooner we decide, the more likely it will be that he is given the choice we want.

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How am I supposed to choose?? Obviously I want him to be in the least dangerous position, but he’d be gone over a year!? Thirteen months is a long time.? The longest he’s ever been gone was for fourteen months.? We had a two week visit with him in December of that year.? It was so damn hard.? I thought we’d never have to do that again.? Most deployments are for six months, rarely are they for a year or more.? Now we’re being cursed with a second one.

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I tell you, it is so hard to not run out and have a Taco Bell feast right now!? But, even this will not get in the way of what I am accomplishing.? Life and it’s choices may suck sometimes, but I am truly past the emotional eating and not exercising, just because I feel like crap.? Used to be, in this situation, that I would just eat a lot and go to sleep.? Sleeping and eating were always my way of avoiding unpleasantness in my life.?

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Now, I don’t know what to do.? But I do know what NOT to do. God is with me through it all.? I have faith that He will hold me up through the hard times, whatever may come.? I know I am never alone!

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Pray for me you guys!