a cheese doodle.

the past few days i have really been pushing through cravings. i have wanted every snack food in the book. it doesn't help that i have every snack food in the book right now at the house.

we had to buy some snack foods to provide for our babysitter on saturday night. cheese doodles are the "big" thing on my mind right now. an unopened bag of cheese doodles. yum. every time i open the pantry, i see them! i can easily consume the whole bag in on sitting.

tim isn't eating them. i don't want landon to eat a whole bag of cheese doodles. so they sit unopened in my closet screaming, "EAT ME!" over and over again.

it is me against the cheese doodle.

come on WILL POWER!!

Tough weekend.

it was a tough weekend. the weekend started off with a double date with couple friends at the Cheesecake Factory.

i ate half a grilled chicken and avocado sandwich on butter drenched bread. it was pretty amazing. i had two lemon drop martinis and an amazing appetizer of chips and spinach dip. i, of course, finished off the meal with a piece of reese peanut butter cheese cake. it was out of this world. luckily, i was pretty full from dinner and drinks that i barely made a dent into the cheesecake.... so i brought it home!

today, i went to a beautiful bridal shower. it was super adorable. i skipped all desserts and stuck with fruit. i ate okay throughout the day... but, i knew the cheesecake was waiting for me in the fridge when i got home tonight. i ate a few bites and boxed it back up to finish tomorrow.

i didn't eat the healthiest this weekend, but didn't do my usual ridiculous eating either. weighed in this morning. down 3.2 pounds... for a total of 17 pounds. only one more pound until the 170s... and three more until the big 20 pound loss for the summer.

super busy week ahead... crazy week. here i go........

Water Fitness

happy friday!! another week is almost in the books. my knee is feeling better. i go for an MRI on Monday to check out the degree of the stress fracture. i haven't had to wear my brace in a few days. i can honestly say that i have been pain free.  i am hoping the MRI comes back okay and i can slowly start increasing my exercise. but until then...

 i started to do water fitness for an hour a day. my first day was on tuesday. i am not going to lie. i felt funny jumping into a pool full of women who were twice my age or more. not one single person was near my age bracket. but, i decided to make the most of it and prayed that it would be somewhat of a good workout... and it totally was!

i coud do every exercise at my pace and push myself harder than the older ladies. the instructor took time to show me ways to make the exercises more challenging... and to be honest. i was dying during a few of them! i couldn't believe the amount of energy i was using to workout in the water. doing jumping jacks in the water is SOOO much better on my knee than on land... i still felt like my heart rate was increased, but without any pain.

i plan on going to water fitness classes all next week... and then i head back to school the following week. it has been nice not having to work and just focus on me over the past six weeks. i honestly have NO clue how i am going to balance work, wife, mom, and me in a couple weeks. i will be happy to take any ideas. because i am stressing just thinking about it.

stress fracture.

another week in the books. still doing okay. i got off the beaten path on thursday thanks to a wonderful dinner out in Philadelphia to celebrate my anniversary. we ate an amazing steak house. we also went to hershey park today. i had chicken fingers for lunch and a hot dog for dinner... i keep telling myself, that i could have done A LOT worse, but i focused on landon in the park and not on the food.
down another 1.8 pounds... that puts me down 14 pounds total. only a little over three more pounds to get into the 170s again. haven't seen that number in over a year!

went to the orthopedic specialist on thursday... turns out, i have a stress fracture in my knee. he wanted me on crutches, but i explained about having a toddler. he decided to put me in a ginormous knee brace instead. so no impact exercise for a while. like months....

so i decided to start something new. i am going to join the water fitness group at the gym starting monday morning. i need to keep this body moving if i plan on feeling better about myself.

bring on another week. my goal is to lose another two pounds! remember to check out "my journey" page for weight updates!

Still going.

weighed in this afternoon... and i am down 12.2 pounds since the summer kicked off. it has been frustrating not being able to exercise, but i guess just eating less has been working. i would LOVE to be in the 170s by the time school starts in three weeks. only five pounds to lose. sounds totally doable if i pay close attention to healthy eating. 

tim has been away on business over the past week. it will be so nice to have him home and get back on a normal schedule. looking forward to his plane landing this evening! 

i am updating weight loss on "my journey" page if you are interested in checking it out! 

Happy Tuesday!!

an update.

well. the knee is doing horrible. can't really function without a high dose of pain killers... but even when i take those, i still feel pain.

i went to the my family doctor yesterday because the pain continues to be unbearable. he basically said ice, elevate, and ibuprofen. he thought maybe a stress fracture, but that didn't show up in the x-ray. i was hoping he would send me to get an MRI... but that was a no go.

i go to the orthopedic specialist next thursday... ughhhh! that seems so far away! my family doctor mentioned that the orthopedic doctor will take a look and maybe suggest an MRI... which means i have longer to be in pain.

pain is the worst. i do not tolerate it well at all. i always think to myself, "what if this pain NEVER goes away and i have to live with it for the rest of my life." i scare myself.

even through the knee injury, i have been eating healthy. i won't step on a scale until sunday, so i am not exactly sure how weight loss is going. i am not really too concerned, because all i want now is to feel better. i want to be able to take a step without cringing.

it will be a week on sunday since my knee injury. praying that the knee heals on its own and i can go back to walking normal. because... i miss doing that.

a set back.

i have hit a bit of a bump in the road on sunday. i ran amazingly on sunday. i felt SO good. i could feel myself being the runner i use to be. i loved EVERY second. then, i came home and took a nap during landon's nap time. and then i woke up....  with the worst knee pain ever.

not sure where it came from. i didn't feel like i injured it at any point on the treadmill. i wasn't going very fast and did a good walking warm up and cool down.

i keep wondering if it is from going back to exercise. i feel like my knee hurt last time i tried working out again. i have eased myself into working out... not going super fast. mixing in walking. and going no longer than 35 minutes... and that is with a warm up and cool down...

i went to the hospital to get my knee x-rayed and it came back fine. the doctor mentioned to me to go to a sports medicine doctor to get a clear picture of my knee with an MRI. it could be injured from the 20 years of long distance running and trying to workout out on it is wearing it down.

deciding what to do is tough. i am wondering if i just wait it out with ice and ibuprofen, the pain will go away eventually and i can work out again. or should i go to the doctor to check it out so i know it isn't anything serious.

decisions... decisions....

two weeks.

i made it two weeks. i think i heard somewhere that it takes two weeks to break a habit and form new ones. it has definitely been easier as the days go by...

here are some changes i have made over the past two weeks:

• 30 minutes of exercise every day: i have been running on the treadmill almost daily and i have also implemented The Shred into my exercise routine to start toning up some soft and mushy spots on my body.
• cutting out soda: i was drinking soda WAY too much. like everyday... sometimes twice a day. both regular and diet. i decided to only splurge on a diet soda if i was out and about. and that has been working.
• water: since i cut out soda, i have been drinking only water. i add ice and a squirt of lemon juice and i have been able to tolerate it.
• planned dinners and snacks: meals have been much more planned over the past two weeks. grocery shops have been organized. this has helped with eating out and ordering a last minute pizza.
• sugar: sugar is my weakness. can't get enough of candy, cakes, cookies, and any sweet in general. i have really cut back on the sugar. i had to stop drinking coffee because i can't drink it without a TON of sugar.

i have to admit that i have been feeling much better over the past couple of weeks. i even feel as though my skin is looking better. strange. i know. i will admit that my body hurts. especially the right ankle. i think this is because i broke it last summer and haven't exercised on it EVER since then. hoping it will get stronger and feel better soon. i have a lot of weight using that ankle right now. maybe, as i drop pounds, it will be better. 

my goals for the next two weeks are:

• exercise 30 minutes a day
• eat a vegetable every day.
• only step on a scale on Sunday

wish me luck!!