A Hippo with a Headband: August 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Give Yourself the Best Gift

Because you can't have enough personal challenges and accountability with Halloween candy, Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, and Christmas feasts on the horizon... I am also joining up with Thrice Blessed of Less of Me, More of Him for her Give Yourself the Best Gift Challenge. You can read all about it here:

Here are my statement and action plans for this challenge:

This holiday season I want to give myself the gift of good health. I plan on accomplishing this gift by:

Continuing my daily prayer and Bible study time,
Continuing to lose weight by staying true to my Weight Watcher's plan,
Preparing and eating healthy foods everyday,
Exercising consistently,
Hydrating properly each day,
Taking time to rest throughout the day and get enough sleep at night,
and Setting aside time to play and laugh with my husband and son each day.

Click the button above to join me in the challenge!

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Christmas Dress Countdown 2011

Now that Slimmer this Summer, which was hosted by Debbi of Debbi Does Dieting and Mir of Two Years to Happy Weight After, Mir is hosting a new challenge to fit into that elusive Christmas dress. Her Christmas Dress Challenge 2011 is just in time for all those fattening holiday foods and thankfully I have been graciously accepted into the challenge! Our goal is to continue making responsible and healthy decisions about the foods we eat and the amount of time we are active during these upcoming holidays. Here's how we plan on doing it:

Between September 11th - and December 18th {14 weeks total} the participants will be linking up to the official Christmas Dress Countdown 2011 site once weekly on Sundays to track our progress in these areas:

Fitting into a smaller dress, skirt, or pant size. My goal is a dress. Picture coming soon!
Sticking to a daily caloric limit. I will be following my Weight Watcher's guide and staying within my points each week.
Exercising a minimum of 3 times per week. This will be the hardest part for me but I am determined!
Striving to stay consistent in our eating and work out plans. Consistency is the key to weight loss that makes it a life long change.
Hydrating sufficiently. I really need to keep up with this one. Water and sleep are needed to lose weight and keep it off. I am lacking in both.
Working through a weight loss book to learn and keep motivated. I will be going through the Bible Study Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst.
Posting twice a week: once for official updates and once for issues, progress, epiphanies found along the way. I have been in a posting slump. You may have noticed my last... oh 10 posts... have been Motivation Monday. Not too motivating is it? Well life has calmed back down again so I need to get in the habit of posting more. I plan on posting to this blog a few times a week with two challenges, Motivation Monday, and some interesting/educational posts for you as well. In addition I now have a journal blog where I will be jotting down ideas and thoughts on weight loss as they come to me. That blog will be more personal and less informational. I'll debut it very soon.
Finally be supportive! Weight loss isn't fun or lasting without the support of friends in your day to day life and online as well.

Some other suggestions Mir has for this challenge include:

Using our online gifts to help others whether it is posting yummy, healthy recipes, encouraging friends, or researching weight loss trends to post about.
Be quick to bounce back. We all have setbacks in life and especially in weight loss. Just shrug it off and keep on trucking. I went off the Weight Watchers' Plan for one week and it took me two weeks to lose that weight I gained, but I now weigh less than I did before and I learned a lesson from it.
Prep your house for healthy eating and exercising. Get rid of the fatty, sugar filled foods that temp you at every turn and set apart an area to do work outs at home when the winter months get too cold to be outside.
Build up your faith in yourself. Whether you think you will succeed of fail, you are correct.
And of course consult a professional before starting any workout or diet routine.

To see all the info Mir has for this challenge or to join up, go here!

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Motivation Monday, August 29

Motivation Monday

Welcome to Motivation Monday! I will be chronicling my journey back to a healthy body, mind, and spirit. Each week I will discuss how the previous week was and set some goals for the next week. I will also be listing my progress. If you would like to see past progress you can click on the Motivation Monday photo above for other Motivation Monday posts. If you would like to get motivated with me please link up your post using the link form below. Your post can be in any format you want.Whether you are trying to get healthier physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually or if you just have a task you need some motivation to complete...please link up so we can help support each other. I would love to hear about your progress and help keep you motivated!

Healthy Steps:

It took me two weeks to lose the weight I gained back the week I went off the Weight Watchers plan. That'll teach me to go off plan! I am so glad I finally found something that works for me. I wish I were losing more and 1lb a week, but that's more than I've been losing for a year so I'll take it! I've been bouncing around 220 since February 2010. This last month and half that I have been on WWers I have lost every single week (that I was on plan lol). I've also started tracking my steps on WWers which is making me walk more each day. I am doing pretty well getting at least 3,000 steps a day. That is still fairly sedentary though. I'd like to be getting at least 5,000 steps a day.

I'm also linking up to Slimmer this Summer for the last time. It was so wonderfully hosted by Debbi and Mir. Mir is starting a new competition called Christmas Dress Countdown and Less of Me, More of Him is hosting Give Yourself the Best Gift. {Which we all know is good health!} Motivation Monday will continue as it always have and I'd LOVE for you to keep linking up each Monday.

Slimmer This Summer Goals:

Track my calories and use proper portion control {Check}
Exercise at least 10 minutes per day, preferably more {Doing better finally.}
Drink at least 6 cups of water per day working my way up to 9 (48 ounces minimum) {Check}

My Weekly Weight Watchers Progress Report:

{The orange thing is a multi-vitamin. I have trouble taking mine. They make me sick. I need to find another brand. The drop is healthy oils. I also have problems with this one since I don't cook with oils, but I need healthy fat to lose fat so I need to work on that too.}

My Numbers

Green is Improvement, Red is Bad, Mmkay?, Blue is Stayed the Same

Weight -213.4

Body Fat % -50.1

Water % -37.2

Muscle Mass % -33.9

How did you do this week?

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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Motivation Monday, August 21

Motivation Monday

Healthy Steps:

I lost almost everything I gained last week. I started doing a morning yoga routine that lasts 20 minutes. It's pretty challenging, but not too hard as to leave me tired the rest of the day. I have found that I can lose about 1 lb per week with diet alone. Maybe with this daily yoga routine and the neoprene waist minimizer I'll see more weight loss next week. I have lost 3 inches off my waist in the last month and half since starting Weight Watchers. That's not too shabby!

I'm also linking up to Slimmer this Summer hosted by Debbi and Mir. Join us!

Slimmer This Summer Goals:

Track my calories and use proper portion control {Check}
Exercise at least 10 minutes per day, preferably more {Doing better finally.}
Drink at least 6 cups of water per day working my way up to 9 (48 ounces minimum) {Check}

My Weekly Weight Watchers Progress Report:

My Numbers

Green is Improvement, Red is Bad, Mmkay?, Blue is Stayed the Same

Weight -214.8

Body Fat % -50.4

Water % -37.1

Muscle Mass % -33.5

How did you do this week?

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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Motivation Monday, August 15

Motivation Monday

Healthy Steps:

Well, I gained this week but you know what? I don't really care. I knew I would after spending 3 days snacking while I wasn't counting my food. On the fourth day I decided I needed to start tracking again. The good news here is that I know the Weight Watchers plan is working for me, I just need to stick to it. Every week I have followed the plan I have lost. That is the most consecutive losses each week in the last 3 years {counting the times when I had surgery and lost weight over a few weeks}! I am excited to see how I do next Saturday since I am back on the plan and doing well. I'm still struggling a bit with my daily exercise, but since finding my FitBit pedometer tracker in my purse I have been walking more each day. {I thought I lost it when I flew to take LB to his surgery.}

I'm also linking up to Slimmer this Summer hosted by Debbi and Mir. Join us!

Slimmer This Summer Goals:

Track my calories and use proper portion control {Check}
Exercise at least 10 minutes per day, preferably more {Still struggling with this, but I am walking more during my days since finding my FitBit pedometer again.}
Drink at least 6 cups of water per day working my way up to 9 (48 ounces minimum) {Check}

My Weekly Weight Watchers Progress Report:

My Numbers

Green is Improvement, Red is Bad, Mmkay?, Blue is Stayed the Same

Weight -214.2

Body Fat % -50.7

Water % -36.9

Muscle Mass % -33.5

How did you do this week?

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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Motivation Monday, August 8

Motivation Monday

Healthy Steps:

First off, today is my husband and my 3rd wedding anniversary and we're having cake of some sort! And that is okay. This is our first anniversary spent together. I did really well last week and hit my 5lb milestone since starting Weight Watchers. Next is my 10lb which might also be my 5% goal milestone! I actually lost 6lbs at the last meeting since beginning a month ago and my 5% goal is 11 lbs.

This coming week is going to be a bit of a challenge on me. For one, I am NOT tracking my food this week. I've been tracking every morsel that has crossed my lips for about 5 months now and at times I feel as though all I think about all day is food. I have decided to take a chance and concentrate on good portion control and exercise. I've really been lacking in exercise and I think it's what I need to get through to the big number losses each week that I know I am capable of. My plan is to take some "me time" in the evenings and go to the gym while the hubby and baby stay home. Now that I'm losing weight I feel it is time to do some weight lifting. Plus, I always feel on top of the world after I've finished lifting weights! I could use some of that feeling to help me push through the cardio.

I'm also linking up to Slimmer this Summer hosted by Debbi and Mir. Join us!

Slimmer This Summer Goals:

Track my calories and use proper portion control {Check}
Exercise at least 10 minutes per day, preferably more {Need to do this daily, not huge chunks only on the weekend}
Drink at least 6 cups of water per day working my way up to 9 (48 ounces minimum) {Check}

My Weekly Weight Watchers Progress Report: