Hey 30s! Where has everyone gone? Admit it you are sitting on the couch watching the Olympics... :-)

I have been quite out of touch lately. My best friend called me last Sunday to tell me that her husband had suddenly left her. So I got on a plane to spend some time with her and help her sort out what to do. I am going to be on the east coast for a week and a half more. It is so devastating to have something like this happen and I am trying to help her through as best I can.

My exercise, sleeping, and eating schedule has become a total wreck. I am hoping that this week I can refocus some on that. She has a membership at the local YMCA so I am hoping to go there when she is off at Crossfit. (Yeah, she does Crossfit because she is just that hard core. :-) She also owns a rowing machine so I can do some rowing while hanging out around the house.

I included a new monthly challenge in this week's weekly challenge. I hope you like it.

Hope everyone is well.

Sara Grace

Oh, and I forgot to add:

* Got asked when I'm due. Apparently I can be mistaken for a woman who is 6 months pregnant :embarassed:

To be fair, one of the other wives IS pregnant, and this was asked by a girl who was meeting the group for the first time and probably got mixed up on the who's-who...but still, very uncool - I only need to lose like 15lbs, and I carry it mostly in my legs. But now I'm going to be extra self-conscious.

Oh, and I forgot to add:

* Got asked when I'm due. Apparently I can be mistaken for a woman who is 6 months pregnant :embarassed:

To be fair, one of the other wives IS pregnant, and this was asked by a girl who was meeting the group for the first time and probably got mixed up on the who's-who...but still, very uncool - I only need to lose like 15lbs, and I carry it mostly in my legs. But now I'm going to be extra self-conscious.

Yeah - totally NOT cool. You should never ask a woman that unless you are 100% positive she's pregnant.

Well, I hadn't been on the board for a while, so I thought I'd creep on over. Hope everyone is well.

I've decided to cancel my gym membership - I have stopped making it worth the investment because I'm just too frustrated to go and money is super tight right now - we need to cut some corners. I'm going to start using the gym in my office building and just do the best I can with what is available. The locker room is pretty gross, but there is rarely anyone there. Also hoping to get back to the trails at the park - I figure doing the C25K there will be good training for Warrior Dash. Plus, they have "workout stations" along one of the trails for pull ups, push ups, etc. Eventually, I think we are going to create a very basic "home gym" in our garage. That will be the ultimate in awesome - I can blare music, grab vitamin water out of the fridge, and workout anytime I please.

My "baby" is starting middle school Friday - I have come to realize that I am WAY more anxious about it than he is. :-( I'm so worried about him getting into his locker, getting to his classes on time, remembering to bring the supplies/books he needs for each class . . . my little monkey is growing up and I want to cry. :sad: I'm short, and kind of young-looking . . . maybe I could sneak in as a student and help him out . . . just for the first week . . . or 10.

Quiet week around here! Well I'm into my second week of cutting my calories back and doing a "reset" with my goals. I'm having quite a hard time sticking to my calorie goals but I'm still staying under where I was eating so here's hoping for some results this week!

So I had a bit of a moment this morning where I decided my scale must be broken because I've been feeling like I'm slimming down, but the scale has been moving the wrong way. It was up another pound today which prompted me to get online and try to find the manual and some reviews to see what kind of life this thing is expected to have as I have had it for a couple years. So I was nearly ready to toss it and order a new one when I got to the part of the manual that said any time its is moved it has to be re-calibrated! I never did that when I moved so I did it this morning and we will see what happens tomorrow.

Susan, that's so tough with the school! I'm sure he will be fine and you are right, you're probably more nervous than he is! And good luck with quitting the gym. I quit a few years ago for financial reasons (I've since gone back) but it actually really helped me jumpstart my weight loss. For me, when I had to make the effort to find something to do for exercise I ended up finding some outdoor activities I really love which makes the whole process so much easier. I started with training for a 10K and have just added other stuff from there, most recently tennis. Now I pretty much only go to the gym if the weather doesn't permit outdoor exercise or to lift weights. I was bored to tears when I went last night to use the elliptical and was just wishing it was cool enough to run outside the whole time. It was a really great change for me. Hope you enjoy it!

You know, I'm feeling much better about it this week. I went back to a lower calorie intake with eating back my exercise calories. I think I just mentally do better with that even if I do go over on non-workout days. The reality is I'm still eating around what I should be using the TDEE-20% method but I feel better knowing its more accurate by using my daily intake around my BMR and then eating back calories. I did manage to go down a pound this week as well which is good, although I am up by about 3 overall. Its so hard with lifting as you always seem to be retaining water to repair, or so they say. Frankly if I'm at a deficit I should be losing and I want to see it!

That's great about people noticing your getting more fit as well!