Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

@laurie-- glad your dad seems to be improving after that scare. Sounds like a good plan to keep the workouts light leading up to your tri--I know you will do great!

@ann-- gardening/yard work is my favorite form of "productive" exercise. Enjoy your retreat!

@tom-- loved your analogy about taking care of ourselves so we can care for others.

@amanda-- I wish gunner would cuddle with me during the storms. He used to, but as he's aging the anxiety just seems to be getting worse. Have fun at the hotel with your family.

@kali-- welcome, and glad to hear your daughter is better. I don't usually eat emotionally, but boredom eating was definitely my biggest challenge when I started this. I got a handle on it for the most part by purposefully saving some calories each day for an evening snack which is when I tend to boredom eat. Also, if I am tempted to snack beyond my calorie allowance, I will check my macros and try to make my snack fit within those.

@2BaNewMe2 --welcome! sounds like you have a good plan in place for fitness.

@kelley-- yeah, those tornadoes were quite a bit west of us, but still too close for comfort. We had terrible rain, but fortunately also dodged any hail. New car + no garage = fear of hail.

@angelika-- I wouldn't count being 2 minutes late as breaking your streak.

AFM-- still really tired today and looking so forward to sleeping in tomorrow. I had a long talk with gunner, and explained my Saturday morning expectations. I think he'll comply--he's a pretty reasonable dog. :P

I'm only slightly over calories today despite eating two very decadent cookies at work. They are called almond joy cookies and are basically macaroons with chocolate chips. Did make my protein goal again though, so that's a win.

None of my friends were available to go out for happy hour today, so I actually went to starbucks to grade. This is huge b/c I NEVER grade on Fridays. I even have a hard time grading at school on Fridays--I tend to use my Friday plan periods to get copies and such prep for the next week. However, I finished grading all of the political cartoon analyses at school and then graded 18 journal reflections tonight. Yay!

Friday Fitness:
Got in a quick walk with gunner after work. We didn't go far b/c it was excessively windy, but it was better than nothing. I plan to go to the gym again tomorrow.

April Challenge:

Nutrition = At or over 90 grams of protein 5/7 days a week
Week 1: At/over 90g of protein 6/7
Week 2: At/over 90g of protein 3/7
Week 3: At/over 90g of protein x/7
Week 4: At/over 90g of protein x/7

Exercise = run 3 x/week:
Week 1: 1/3 runs
Week 2: 1/3 runs
Week 3: x/3 runs
Week 4: x/3 runs

Next 8k is May 9th (Thanksgiving 8k = 56:49, NYE 8k = 57:47, 1/25 = 55:41; 2/28=55:15, 3/29 = 59:15)

Grading Goals:
1. 18/64 Wuthering Heights reflections
2. 60/60 political cartoon analyses DONE
3. x/64 Lit theory papers

Exercise Goals: (week 1)
Sun--walk gunner DONE + played with niece
Mon--rest day
Tues--walk gunner NOT DONE
Wed--rest day
Thurs--walk gunner NOT DONE + gym DONE
Fri--walk gunner DONE
Sat--walk gunner + gym

2015 Mantra = Just 15 minutes

@niki-- it's great that you are coming out of your funk and getting back on track. So sorry for the loss of your friend.

Hey Everyone-
I came across this on a FB page I like called Eat to Perform. Anyways I thought I would share it as it contains some good reminders:

http://www.eattoperform.com/2014/12/12/the-top-five-reasons-you-arent-losing-body-fat/

Hello friends and happy saturday to you all :-) Learning to appreciate all that I am fortunate to have today. My husband of 30 yrs is still my best friend, and I am blessed for that. Last Thursday I bought a food scale, and then I bought some summer shirts and shorts...I shall not be depressed that the shorts were a size 22, nor will I worry about the fact that I am a 2X. I am moving forward, just like my husband has after his liver transplant. All is well. Today I shall have a good day eating, taking a walk hopefully, and maybe playing a new game I downloaded. :-)

Hi Everyone,
I'm getting caught up on posts. My Saturday success is that I got to go for a walk and I had two companies call me for phone screenings next week.

love reading all your posts. You all seem to be progressing maaauvalously! Today is sharing day...hmmm. Well I am a retired Navy Chiefs' wife, married 30 yrs, mom to 3 sons, (25 and 20 yr olds in active Navy, 16 yr old waiting to enlist next year), living on the farthest Northwest point of Oregon. Moved from California to Oregon on 12-12-12... (thought that was so poinant!) Husband rec'd a new liver on May 15th 2014 so I am learning to be a wife again, and not his fulltime caregiver. I have realized that I am a survivor just as he is, and we are just appreciating his retirement. I could get a part-time job, but I don't want to. I don't want to miss anything! I have stopped be a helicopter wife hovering about him, (which he hated when I did that).
Today I need to attack the plot at the community garden.... I weeded so much I now need to buy more dirt! Will probably plant all my starts. My thought of the day....
LOSING WEIGHT IS NOT THE KEY TO HAPPINESS.......
HAPPINESS IS THE KEY TO LOSING WEIGHT.......
(can I get an AMEN! )

Sunday Share - Today is the Eastern (Orthodox Catholic) Easter that I celebrated growing up and with my parents. Now that they have both been gone for a more than a decade (2 for my mom), I have gotten away from celebrating it in the past few years. Except this morning, even though I didn't go to church for the all-night service and basket blessings, nor did I go to church this morning; and I haven't been following the strict food rituals and traditions .... I found myself on my knees and yelling to the heavens ... in Russian ... Christ is Risen! And then the Lords Prayer tumbled out of my mouth in my original language. Somehow, that made eveything all right for me today. It didn't seem to matter that I haven't been celebrating this occassion in my old traditional way ... and it didn't seem to matter that I so often have doubts about my own faith and spirituality ... today is Easter and Christ is risen.

My food choices for today were not the best they could be. I didn't feel like cooking supper and so I ordered a chicken dinner and ate half of it, but then I ate 2 candy bars. Now I am stuffed to the gills and hope it lasts until morning!.

@cblue315-Lori, thanks for the welcoming back words. I'm glad thinks are looking up for you.
@hansea47-Amanda, also thanks for the welcome back. Glad the bad weather from a few days ago passed over you with no repercussions. Poor Gunner, thunderstorms really scare some animals terribly. My DIL's dog does better in storms when they put a tight t-shirt on her. Something about the snugness makes her feel more calm.
@kah68-Kelley, thanks for the welcome back. Yep, computers can be a hassle. I really need to start keeping a hand written address book, or get a smart phone!
@skinnyjeanzbound-Karen, ditto to you with the storms ... I thought about you when I heard about them. Thanks for the welcome back.
@RobinsEgg-Ellen .. My coffee maker doesn't work either ... so now I use 2 4-cup measuring cups, a small wire strainer (one that fits into the cups) and a coffee filter to make my coffee. It was something I did the first day I couldn't make coffee the normal way. Then I liked the taste of the coffee so much better that I have kept up making my coffee that way every day instead of getting a new electric maker. My method? I nuke the coffee in one measuring cup until it boils or nearly boils. Then I add my coffee grounds and stir it up with a spoon or fork, or whatever is handy. After it steeps a few minutes (usually while I cook the rest of my breakfast), I put the strainer with a coffee filter inside it into the second measuring cup and pour the coffee with grounds into it. When the coffee comes down into the second measure cup, I pour it into my coffee mug. Since I make 2-3 measured cups, I usually need to pour the coffee/grounds mixture into the filter a couple times ... but hey, I get to enjoy the smooth coffee while I wait! Yes, I know, it now is several things to wash and put away when I'm done, but what they heck, the coffee taste is worth it.

Follow-through
Niki

Sunday Share:
Had a nice mix of work and leisure today. Met my friend to do some house hunting with her. She's the one who lives in Lake Geneva, but is relocating back to Chicago area. We had lunch at a really good Mexican restaurant called Mago. I had a taco trio--fish, pork, and steak--and we split a side of plantains in queso. It was so delicious and though it wasn't a lot of food, it was really filling. So much so, that for dinner I just had a small piece of chicken breast. Right now I'm debating whether or not to have an apple with some peanut butter--it would put me over for the day by about 100 calories, but would bring my protein above 90 g. I'm going to wait awhile and see if I'm hungry enough.

On my way home, I decided it was still early enough to get some more grading done, so I stopped by the HS to drop off some of the graded journals and pick up more to grade. I then went to starbucks and graded 10 more journals, so I'm more than halfway done with those.

Good morning everyone.

Happy Thomas Jefferson Day
Thomas Jefferson Day celebrates the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of Republicanism in the United States. Major events during his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favoured states’ rights and a strictly limited federal government. Jefferson also supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
A polymath, Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, author, inventor and founder of the University of Virginia. When President John F. Kennedy welcomed forty-nine Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House—with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

In his early life Jefferson practiced law and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1774, he wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America, which was intended as instructions for the Virginia delegates to a national congress. The pamphlet was a powerful argument of American terms for a settlement with Britain. It helped speed the way to independence, and marked Jefferson as one of the most thoughtful patriot spokesmen.
As the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and a significant contributor to American political and civil culture, the Continental Congress delegated the task of writing the Declaration to a Committee of Five which unanimously solicited Jefferson to write the first draft, which underwent some alteration, but remained largely Jefferson’s work.

The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude. ~Dennis S. Brown

Tom

Bump - Yes, I'm still alive!! The week before Easter was crazy at work plus trying to wrap things up before Spring Break. We were gone Friday, 4/3 thru Saturday, 4/11. Between the unpacking and coming back to work e-mails I'm so behind. I'll read through the post and be back soon. Missed you guys!!

OMG! What a week. I can't believe Spring Break was such a disaster in our world. Both girls are fighting ear infections and have surgery scheduled for this Friday. Mommy visited the doctor on both Monday and Wednesday. The steroids he prescribed were NOT friendly to the scale. I am so ready for everyone to be healthy. Now our sky has opened up and their is a 90% chance of rain every day this week. Today is one of those days that I am wishing I had decided to do a gym membership instead.

I think my goal for this week is to keep better updated with this thread and use you amazing people to help motivate me and keep me on track.