stews journey

[stews]

here is a little background. if you have questions you are welcome to contact me and ask them :
I have been overweight MOST of my adult life. I quickly gained weight after getting married. did good eating wise and maintaining weight with my two pregnancies but between and after them I did TERRIBLE. lol in Feb. 2000 I started Atkins and lost 80 pounds over 1 1/2 or 2 years (don't remember the exact time frame any more) but due to some health issues (hormone garbage) gained the weight back plus 5. I had surgery during this time and then struggled for 2 years with trying to stick to a diet. I'd get up with good intentions only to eat bad by noon most days. I just could not stick to it. NOW, I actually don't blame all of the weight gain on the hormones, I made bad choices along with the health problems BUT the doctor did tell me the reason I gained and then the reason I had trouble losing or even sticking to a plan after my surgery was because of hormones. (made me feel a lot less like a failure, at least ).


OK, fast forward to my most recent journey:
April 11, 2005: I started my journey...again. it stuck this time, thank goodness. I went 306 days before going off plan. and that meal was totally planned out. a controlled cheat, you could say.

Feb. 13, 2006: I enjoyed an Italian dinner with soup, veal parmasan, pasta and bread for our 18th wedding anniversary. I didn't overeat, mabye ate 1/2 the pasta (if that) and felt good afterwards. I also didn't gain any weight from it as I had expected. I went into this cheat totally prepared. was extra strict for 2 days before, ate my normal LC way the day of our dinner and limited my cheat to dinner only. After dinner dh took me shopping for some new clothes. we got 2 pairs of pants and 4 shirts. It felt good to find some new clothes that FIT. most of my things are WAY too baggy. it only encouraged me to stick to my plan and get to goal. the size I want to be seems almost within reach now.

April 11, 2006: had my 2nd cheat on my atkinsversary. LOL. anyway, I again didn't just go off on a whim. I planned it in advance. we went to a little restaraunt in Portland and had cajun food. I started with a spinach salad with bacon dressing. then we split an order of jambalaya and an order of cioppino. The cioppino actually was probably fairly low carbed. also had a couple slices of bread. I ended up not eating all my rice. I was getting full so I picked out the good stuff and left the rest of the rice. after dinner we walked around downtown portland a little bit. I didn't feel like I over ate at all so I think I did good. again, I got right back on plan the next day with no real cravings.

some of the clothes I bought in February are getting baggy although I really haven't lost much weight since then. hopefully it won't be long until I need to buy new clothes again. oh, and some of the ones that are getting baggy are size TEN.

ok, there you have it. you know a little about my history. again, if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them for you. no question will be ignored (I'll just tell ya it's none of your business if i'ts too much, :P ) truthfully, most things I would have NO problem answering so if you want to get to know me better, ask away.

I will TRY and post in here daily. sometimes it will probably be some rambling and other times just a quick post with my daily menu and exercise (if any).

[stews]

Wednesday morning:

B: yogurt, fruit, fiber one cereal mixed in
L: salad with egg and ranch, baby bell cheese wheel
D: sausage/cheese omelettes
S: yogurt with fruit

not sure if I will exercise today. I got 4 miles in last night and wednesdays sometimes aren't easy to fit it in. we'll see tonight.

[ddog27]

Your doing great Stews!! Keep it up!!

[GApeach23]

You are doing great!!!

It's funny with your 2 planned cheat days (I know I mentioned it briefly in one of your other threads), but it just so happens that 2-13 is my birthday and 4-11 is my DH's birthday...........now that is a funny coinky dink!!!



KUTGW!!!!

[stews]

Originally Posted by GApeach23

You are doing great!!!

It's funny with your 2 planned cheat days (I know I mentioned it briefly in one of your other threads), but it just so happens that 2-13 is my birthday and 4-11 is my DH's birthday...........now that is a funny coinky dink!!!



KUTGW!!!!

what other special days do you have. mabye I'll coincide.

[DisneyPrincess]

I am happy you started a journal! You have done tremendous and I know you will be at goal before you know it.

Keep up the good work friend

[stews]

Originally Posted by Jackielbrown04

I am happy you started a journal! You have done tremendous and I know you will be at goal before you know it.

Keep up the good work friend

thank you, friend . I know I'll get to goal, just not sure how long it's going to take me any more.

I'm not so sure my journal will be of much interest to most. I'm not a great writer like so many BUT, I don't care. mabye I'll start typing random thoughts that will make no sense to anyone but me (ok, they may not make sense to me either, ).

[tette]

Welcome to the journal club stews.LOL
I did`nt think a journal would help but im more in my journal and the journals of my friends than on the main board any more,it`s great that you started one and i`ll be one of your lurkers HAHAHA.

[stews]

thanks tette. I hope I don't put ya to sleep.


I am SOOO proud of myself.

I went and ran outside tonight. wasn't planning on it but I just felt like it. there is a small river close to my house that has a dike built up along it and a trail along the top of the dike. along the way it has mile markers so you know about how far you've gone. I ran THREE miles (NO walking! ). don't know the exact time since I don't have a stop watch, but my cell phone clock said 7:27 when I started and 8:00 when I left. so it took approx. 33 minutes (give or take a little). woohoo! um, I suppose this means my body will thank me by being sore tomorrow .

I don't know if I'll do anything tomorrow. I'm going to just wait and see how I feel. I don't enjoy running yet, but this was the closest I've come to enjoying it. LOL

[stews]

Thursday morning:

good morning. the sun is shining today (at least for the moment. )

my legs do feel a bit sore from last night's run but it's a good sore. I know my exercise is accomplishing something besides making me tired, at least. lol

my plan today:

B: 2 boiled eggs
L: salad
S: sf latee breve (meeting a friend after work)
D: pumpkin sausage soup, salad
S: MABYE yogurt with berries

I don't know if I'll do any exercising today. we'll see what happens this evening. I'm sure I could use a day off so I'm not really planning it. if I get the urge to do something I will but, well, we'll just see.

I got on the scale this morning even though my official weigh in day is only mondays. no loss yet this week. um, I really should stay off the scales. it's a bit disapointing to see no losses when i am working hard and staying on plan. I know that i'ts not all about pounds and that all the work I'm doing is good whether it shows on the scale or not. but I still want to see the pounds drop, anyway. I'm going to try and stay off until monday and just not worry about it. (that's hard though, I like a sneak peak every now and then, LOL).

[stews]

Thursday evening:

I had a nice visit with my friend over coffee. I got a small double sf irish vanilla latte breve. I was going to get 1 size bigger but when I got there she informed me she was treating. I KNOW she would not have minded buying the bigger one but I didn't really need it and I didn't want her to. anyway, it was delicious!

for dinner I had my pumpkin sausage soup and salad (romaine lettuce and ranch) as planned. BUT, I used a smaller bowl for the soup (although I'd much rather have more. I love this stuff) and I used a bigger bowl for my salad.

I don't know if I'm having a snack tonight or not. Ill decide later. I am going to a play at the highschool with dd15 tonight so will just see if I'm hungry when we get home or not. if I have one I may just have some berries instead of yogurt since I had the breve today.

[stews]

Friday Morning: TGIF

ok, I'm feeling ok this morning except the weather is yucky again. raining this morning. I was thinking of running outside today but if it's still dismal I may just do intervals on my treadmill again during my brothers baseball game this evening. if I do I'll walk during the inning and run during the commercials. got a good workout last time I did this and dh picked up my inhaler at the pharmacy yesterday so I am not as worried about pushing it too hard now (especially since it's the weekend and I don't work till monday again after today. yeah)

food plan (subject to change)
B: eggs
L: salad with lettuce, broccoli and dressing of some kind
D: salad and pumpkin sausage soup
S: yogurt with berries and mabye sf davincis

[stews]

Friday night:

change of plans. I'm not having my yogurt for a snack tonight. I did however have some cheddar cheese and a low carb bar in addition to my dinner.

todays workout: total 6.2 miles time: 88:57

I did walk much of it. I mostly walked during the innings and ran on commercials. my running intervals were 1/4 mile each and then walking @ 3.5 mph until the next running interval. speed and order of my running segments: 5.0 mph, 5.5 mph, 6.0 mph, 6.5 mph, 7.0 mph, 7.0 mph, 6.5 mph, 6.0 mph, 5.5 mph, 5.0 mph (I did do the last 3 laps of running from 6 mph back down to 5 without walking in between). after that I did about 1/2 lap at 4.5 and then dropped down to 3.0 to finish up.

[stews]

Saturday morning:

ok, I am going to wait and see how I feel later. I may not exercise today. I don't really know how I feel yet. I just got up but I think my legs are pretty tired from last nights workout. if I am up to it I'm going to go to a local lake here and run/walk around it. it's 3.5 or 3.8 miles depending on which path I take. I'm hoping I'll at least feel like a walk today but I have stuff I'd like to get done at home too.

I had planned on going this morning but my dad called last night and wants to meet me for breakfast. (who can turn that down?). ok, I could and I do sometimes but NO way am I telling my daddy no today. today is the anniversary of mom's death. on the 25th is the day we had her funeral but also her and dad's wedding anniversary.

I have a feeling today is going to be filled with a lot of mixed feelings. one minute I'm fine the next I feel like crying. it's been 3 years and I wish we could go back and not have mom taken away too young. It hurts to see my dad hurt. I hate to see him cry and I know this week is going to be hard for him.

Food plan (subject to change, as always)
B: eggs and hamburger steak
L: yogurt with berries
D: salad with turkey, broccoli, ranch
S: mabye yogurt.
__________________

[DisneyPrincess]

I hope your day goes by as best it can. I will say a prayer for your mommy

[stews]

thanks Jackie.


I ended up getting a veggie omelette and strawberries for breakfast.

[stews]

NOT diet related but still GOOD for me:

my dh is going to be SURPRIZED when he comes home. there are always so many better (read: funner) things to do than housework . I've gotten dished done, I swept going over it with a broom and then also with the dry swiffer to get the "flufflies" that never seem to go away with the broom. I then mopped with pinesol and went over it again with fresh water. my house smells clean. dd17 vacuumed and dusted the living room and also (without being asked) wiped down the sinck and counter in the bathroom and straighted up in there. I'm forcing dd15 to thoroughly clean her room (at least get the floor area done today so she can vacuum. she also is doing her laundry today. her room stinks and I am going to have her sprinkle baking soda on her carpet let it sit for awhile and then vacuum. tomorrow I'll have her clean up some of the clutter on her desk and stuff. sometime this week I'll have her do something in the main part of the house to help out since she didn't have to do that today. (dd17's generally keeps her room clean and smelling good so I don't have to force her to do it, lol).

I'm going to relax for a bit until my floors are dry and then I'll put the chairs back and finish the kitchen (wiping down the counters and stove, etc.

I'm hoping to get enough done today that I can enjoy the rest of the weekend. dh and I are going to watch a movie dd17 rented the other day (before we have to return it). memoirs of a geisha. don't know if it'll be any good, but it'll be nice to relax together before he starts graveyard tomorrow night. tomorrow we have church in the morning and then it would be nice to just do and enjoy it rather than thinking of things I should be doing instead, LOL.

this is one area I'm really trying to improve on is to be better at making myself keep my house clean more on a regular basis. (I'm not the worst house keeper I've ever seen, but I definately have to discipline myself to keep up with it). dh is a perfectionist so he will be THRILLED that I'm "trying" (right now anyway, haha).

[lexus4me]

Thanks for stopping by my journal. Now that I have found yours, I'm going to be watching you too Any help you can throw my way will be GREAT!

Ps~ I really liked the Movie your DD rented so much I purchased it

[stews]

Originally Posted by lexus4me

Thanks for stopping by my journal. Now that I have found yours, I'm going to be watching you too Any help you can throw my way will be GREAT!

I'll be WATCHING you! hehehehehe (I'm going to subscribe to your thread so I'll remember to check in on ya here and there.).

same goes for me by the way. any encouragement I can get is nice.

oh and by the way. cute avi.

[lexus4me]

oh and by the way. cute avi.

Awww thanks just a pic of lil ol me I need to read the rest of your journal to see where you have been and how you got to where you are now1

Congrats on the loss!

[stews]

Sunday Morning:

yeah, it's SUNNY here again. first thing i did was open all the blinds and get some natural light in here. I'm tired of the dreary depressing winter.

I'm still not feeling 100%. I think the workout the other night was too much and kicked this in. it's frustrating that I have no signs that I'm doing too much until AFTER I'm done (sometimes not until the next day like this time). I would STOP if I my body would tell me to. But NOOOOOOOOOOO, I felt GOOD while doing it and terrible later. ack, it sure is hard to know how hard to push and when is the "right" time to slow down and stop when it's like this.

not sure what my food plan is yet today. I'll have to fill it in as I go I guess.


B: yogurt, peach slices, cinnamon and fiber one cereal.
__________________

I will walk or run today. It just depends on how I feel this afternoon or evening when I get around to it.

[stews]

Lunch was broccoli (cooked just a little) and ranch, cheddar cheese and 2 boiled eggs

Dinner was grilled burgers with romaine lettuce, jalapenos, shredded cheese, ranch and salsa.

I'll probably have some yogurt with frozen berries and davincis some time this evening too but not sure yet.

[stews]

sunday night:

I did have the yogurt tonight.

I also managed to get treadmill done. I took it a little easier since I haven't felt good after my workout a couple nights ago.

3 miles total.
walked 1/4 mile @ 3.5
jogged just over 2 miles (1/4 @ 6.0, and the rest @ 5.0)
walked the rest @ 3.5 except I dropped it to 3.0 for to finish it up. mabye 1/2 mile, can't remember for sure when I slowed down.

[lexus4me]

Stews tell me about your avi, is that someone you admire? Who is he?

hope you are feeling better I miss Yogurt someday.

Nite