The Power of One: The Beginning

A brand new fitness and weightloss challenge is starting TODAY at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans!  Are you signed up?  I hope so, because there is no time like the present to get back on track after the holiday debauchery that has just ensued.  This challenge is a little different because there are no teams.  This challenge is focusing on the most important person in your life:  YOU.

I definitely need this challenge.  I had managed to reach my goal weight about a month ago, and technically I'm less than a pound above what I considered my maintenance range of 135-138, but I've gotten a little too loosey-goosey and I've put a few pounds back on.  3 pounds to be exact (and only 1.8 since the end of the last challenge, so it really isn't that bad).  Now, that really shouldn't get me down, but it does.  My weigh-in this morning of 138.8 is dangerously close to a decade I said I'd never see again.  Yesterday, my scale said 139 and it made me cry.  But it also made me go to the gym and work out for an hour and a half, so I guess there was some benefit although I'm pissed my workout only earned me 2/10 of a freaking pound.

So, onto the challenge portion of our challenge.

Step 1: weigh-in.  Check. 138.8 (boo)
Step 2: blog about it. Check. you are reading it, aren't you?
Step 3: take measurements and a photo.  Sorta.  I'm not going to take a photo because with only 3 pounds to lose, there isn't going to be much visual change.  I did take my measurements but I'm keeping those to myself.  M'kay?
Step 4: weigh-in form. Check.

And finally, my healthy living goals for this challenge and the New Year.

• Drink at minimum 64 oz of water 6/7 days a week. (I've been HORRIBLE with this over Christmas break.  I do much better with my water bottle at school.)
• Run 2-3 times a week
• Sign up for my 25k race (the race isn't until May and I won't need to start officially "training" until probably February, but I should just get the sign-up out of the way, don't you think?)
• Do the Shred DVD, EA Sports Active, or some other strength/crosstraining 2-3 times a week.
• 25 push-ups and 25 sit-ups after each run.
• Log my food on Daily Plate at least 4/7 days a week.
• Lose at least 3 pounds to get back to 135.8 or less.

OK, I think that's it!  Ready, Set, Go!

True Confessions: post holiday edition

It is Tuesday, which means it is True Confessions time at the Sisterhood. We've been instructed by the lovely Christie O to confess the good and the bad.

I'll start with the good:
•the almond bars are now gone.
•I made a huge crock pot full of vegan ratatouille and ate tons of it at Christmas & for several days afterwards.
•I used light ingredients in many of the dishes I made (but sadly, the almond bars I demolished were NOT light).
•I did not have any pecan pie.
•I made a turkey breast in the crock pot I won from the Shrinkingjeans vlog challenge. It was A.MAZ.ING and I will never cook turkey in the oven again.
•I ran 6.3 miles the day after Christmas & worked out for 1.5 hrs today.
•I bought myself a dot-com & new blog design for Christmas!

Now for the bad:
•cookies, candy, cheesy potatoes, and almond bars.
•the above in excess.
•too little, too late on the exercise front.
•there are still cookies, stroope, ham, and pretzel m&ms in the house mocking me.

Needless to say, I desperately need to get back on track. I fear I am getting dangerously close to that decade I said I'd never see again and that scares me. While I'm sure I didn't gain the 11 pounds the average person puts on between Thanksgiving & New Years, I've gained some. I am so glad we have a new challenge and a new year to start fresh. So, here's to starting anew!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Our Christmas in Pictures

Our Chrismas holiday in pictures.



The one time of year I get out my Mom's china.


The cousins enjoy a couple rounds of UNO.


Holy presents, Batman!


Squirt & Grandpa check out the snacks


M gets to go first!


C loves his new tools!


K's doll got glasses and K got a new MSU hat.


D got more guns 'n ammo than he knows what to do with.


I got a great new running hat :). I need to exchange it cuz it's too big :(


Finally ready to eat.


Squirt asks Aunt B for some turkey.


Dessert!

I pray you all had a blessed Christmas with family and friends. If you don't celebrate Christmas, then I hope you had a wonderful Saturday.

If you haven't switched your reader over to my new home at www (dot) livelaughrunbreathe (dot) com please do that soon! I don't want to lose any of you :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Merry Christmas From My "New" Home!

Wishing You and Yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year


As you can see, I've "moved" (or maybe you can't because I'm also posting this on the "old" site)!!!! Beginning today, I'm now blogging at http://www.livelaughrunbreathe.com/ and I'd love for you to join me there.  If you are finding this from Shrinking Chick, please go to LLRB and follow me there because it looks like my posts from there may not show up in your reader.  I hope you love the new look of my blog as much as I do. (Major props to Lindsay for the awesome design-click on her link to the right and show her some Christmas love!)  Make sure you click on that little orange RSS button up top and subscribe to this blog and grab my new button!!!! You will continue to be redirected from Diary of a Shrinking Chick, but I'm not sure for how long.

Love you all!

Holiday Hoe-Down: The Finale

I can't believe we are already done with the Holiday Hoedown!  I've had the most amazing team (love my Healthy Holiday Ho's).   While I didn't end this challenge any lighter, I also didn't end in any heavier, really.  Maintenance during the holiday season can be a great accomplishment in and of itself!

So let's get down to it, shall we?

Weight on June 23, 2009: 165.8

Challenge Starting Weight: 136.6

Last Week's Weight: 136.4

This Week's Weight: 137.0

Change: up 0.6

Challenge Change: up 0.4

Total Pounds Gone: 28.8

While I'm not happy for not still being at the 30 pounds gone mark, I am happy that I didn't do even more damage.  Considering the number of pounds the average America gains over the holidays, I'll take my 1/2 pound gain! 

We were supposed to log minutes this week as well, and I logged 170.  Not too shabby.  (Too bad I couldn't count the 1 hr 21 min "tri" I did this morning in those totals!)

Unfortunately, I didn't really talk nice about myself much this week, although I was pretty proud of my attempts at swimming this week and did manage to finish 6 pairs of mittens for our church and that made me feel good.  Hopefully our new Power of One challenge will have me rethinking my outlook a bit.  What???? You haven't signed up yet???? Go. Now.  I'll wait.

Ok, now that you've signed up for the next challenge, I can say:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

to all my fellow sisters, brothers, and bloggy friends.  I really do treasure you all.  The support you've given me this year has truly been one of the best gifts I could have ever asked for.

MWAH,

Bari

ps-this little blog is going to be undergoing some changes! I'm super excited and can't wait until I can share the new look, so stay tuned!

Help Me Rename My Blog!

Hi all!

As a Christmas gift to myself (in line with the health and fitness I've gained this year) I've decided to rename this blog for the New Year.  Below is a poll of several possible new names for this blog (I tried putting a poll in the sidebar but it was an epic fail - sorry this isn't anonymous, but I love you guys anyway, no matter how you vote). 

• lighthouserunner
• runningmademeloseit
• fromshrinktoshrank
• livelaughrunbreathe
• diaryofahealthychick

I don't anticipate changing the format or my ramblings much (unless there is a topic you'd like to see my write about!) but I feel that since I'm really not "shrinking" anymore, my name should reflect where I am now in this journey.  I plan on keeping the "poll" up until at least Christmas, and possibly New Years, and I value your opinions, so vote-vote-vote.  If you think of a different name, please include it in the comments!  Write-in votes are encouraged!  Also, thank you to all of you who submitted ideas.  I had a hard time narrowing the choices down :) 

ps-Since the sidebar poll didn't work, just write your vote in the comments!
Thanks friends!

Bari

Holiday HoeDown Week 4

Well, here we are on another Wednesday and already at week 4 in our latest Shrinkingjeans challenge.  Time sure flies when you are hanging out in the blogosphere with your friends *waves to fellow Healthy Holiday Ho's and bloggy friends*.  Time to hop on over to my scale and see what it says.

Weight on June 23, 2009: 165.8

Challenge Starting Weight: 136.6
Last Week's Weight: 137.0
This Week's Weight: 136.4
Change: down .6
Challenge Change: down .2
Total Pounds Gone: 29.4

Our fitness challenge was to log minutes this week.  The weather here in Michigan has been abysmal for working out outside (granted, there are some crazies who run in this crap, but I prefer to avoid the broken ankles and head injuries I'm likely to incur by running in snow and ice).  I logged fewer minutes than last week, but these were what I consider to be more quality workouts, so I'll take that.  Still not what I feel I should be able to do, but with the craziness going on right now, I'll take what I can get.  Also, my foot has been pretty good lately and I don't want to reinjure it before I start hard-core 25k training in January.
Workout minutes: 132

Our nonfitness challenge was to try something new.  Seeing as I have a bunch of IRL and bloggy friends pestering me encouraging me to do a triathlon, I decided to see if I could actually run, bike and swim in the course of a single, long workout.  I did not do the events in the proper order (I chose to run, then bike, then swim because the pool wasn't open for lap swim when I first got there - so basically I went backwards), but I was able to complete a mini-tri very mini since I think even the kid's tris are longer than this.  I ran 1.5 miles in 15 minutes, biked 6.3 miles in 30 minutes, and swam 400 yds in 15 minutes.  The next day I could barely walk, thankyouverymuch.

For the next week, our nonfitness goal is to say something nice about ourselves/give ourselves a pat on the back each day.  This has been hard for me to do lately.  I really feel like I am in a rut exercise-wise and I seem to have no motivation to do anything.  Hopefully my 2 week break coming up will give me the opportunity to hit the gym, maybe take some kickboxing, spin, or weights classes, and get back on track.  I will give myself a pat on the back that even though I haven't been training for anything, I've managed to maintain my weight (and even lose a tiny bit more) since my 1/2 mary.  That should count for something.

One more tiny thing - a favor if you will.  I am planning to buy myself a domain name for Christmas (I never thought I'd type THAT statement).  I have a couple ideas but welcome suggestions for a new name for this blog.  I don't anticipate the format/content will really change much, but I'd also like suggestions about what you would like me to ramble on and on about :)  So, talk to me peeps!  Help a Shrinking (now Shrunk? Shrank?) Chick out. thanxkbye!