**One of life's mysteries is how a two-pound box of candy can make a woman gain five pounds.**

Got up at 6:30 this morning for the SECOND day in a row!! Ran on the treadmill well... ran/walked on the treadmill but Im so proud of myself for actually waking up. I also spent yesterday making Chicken Chili, Lowfat Chicken salad and baking squash so I have a stocked fridge full of good food. I think Im finally back on track!

wow...

Wow, June was the last time I blogged and since its been that long since I blogged it should come as no surprise that I have GAINED weight. I just love food a little too much I think. Last night I was at Target. I decided to try on a sweater and while I was in that dressing room I started looking in the three-way-mirror (worst thing EVER invented). I was so disappointed in what i saw... back rolls!! Since when do I have BACK ROLLS!!! Holy Crap! I need to do something about this situation. So I am back to blogging. Got up at 6:30 and headed to the gym this morning and I have vowed that I am not eating :) ok... well, I will have to eat but what I do eat needs to change! its going to be hard especially starting at Christmas time but I am figuring that I am just getting a jump start on my New Years Resolution.

AAAAHHHH!!!!

Have you ever had one of those days when all you do is yell. You yell at your kids, yell at your husband, yell at the dog, yell at the kids some more!!! That is how my day is going. Im not sure why Im so stressed but I am seriously on EDGE!!! The bad thing is that all this yelling and stressing makes me head straight for the cupboard for comfort. So far I have only eaten a Fiber One bar for comfort but I can tell that if I dont change my attitude soon my evening is going to be a terrible snacky one! So... here I am blogging about it instead. I think most of my stress comes from the fact that my daughter has been home from school sick today and yesterday and all her and my son have done is fight. Im tired of hearing the tv ALL DAY LONG and it seems like I can get NO peace and quiet!

Oh Help Me!!! Summer vacation starts next week and I have this to deal with Every Day!! I better stock up on Weight Watchers cookies!!

No posts = No motivation

I think its funny that I can tell how a week went by looking at my blog posts and my food journal entries. Notice- the first week I posted every day, the second week I posted like 3 times and last week I posted.... NONE!! This is how that relates to my weight loss

Week 1- Posted every day- lost 3.5 lbs
Week 2- Posted 3 times- lost 1.5 lbs
Week 3- Posted ZERO- Lost ZERO!!

I have still kept up with my exercising pretty well but without good eating to go along with it, I dont seem to benefit as far as weight loss goes.

So, Im back to blogging in hopes that I will have a good week! I guess we will all know depending on how many days this week that I post :)

Todays Weigh-in

Well, I made it through the weekend and I managed to lose 1.5 lbs last week. Its not as much as I would have liked but it was a loss so Im happy.

Update for the week...

This week has been pretty good. I have stayed within my points on most days and I have only had to dip into my Bonus points a tiny bit! My exercise has been good, I have rediscovered my "Firm" Dvd's which make my butt burn. I am excited to weigh in on Monday as long as I keep within my points over the weekend :)

Where a kid can be a kid!

Summertime always brings out the most scantily clad, oddly shaped people that I have ever seen and if you would like variety to gape at just pay a visit to your local Chuck E. Cheese.

Now, I am no Barbie doll (FAR from it) but I know what parts of my body should ALWAYS be covered up NO matter what!! I honestly have a hard time thinking that these particular people can look in the mirror and say "I look good, I am ready to go out into public." Anyway....

My children have been begging me to take them to The Cheese for quite some time now and since its been raining pretty steadily here, I finally broke down and took them. I had no sooner opened the door when I was greeted by a 6 foot tall smiley mouse asking for a high five. The pizza was expensive and disgusting and their "salad bar" had more fattening, creamy side dishes than it had actual salad.

Not only was the food disgusting but I am somewhat of a germ-a-phobe and watching my kids touch every game and token was just about enough to put me over the edge. Combine this with the extremely large and sweaty lady in a wife-beater tank top that was standing next to me playing skee ball and I packed up my children and quickly vacated the premises.

So that wraps up my fun-filled day! I will NOT be visiting there again anytime soon!

**Note** If you are the woman who happened to be playing skee ball next to me, Im sure you are a lovely person, just purchase some deoderant :)

Weigh to Go!!

Today is my 1st weigh in and here are the results.......

Starting Weight- 170

Current Weight- 166.5

Total loss- 3.5 lbs

Yay me!!! That really motivates me to keep going this week!

My Trip to The Old Spaghetti Factory

Last night was my first time eating out this week while REALLY counting points and being on Alli. I think I did really well considering that we went to one of my fave restaurants... The Old Spaghetti Factory!

First... I had salad (good) but I had regular dressing (bad) .
I only had ONE piece of bread (good). I had baked chicken (good) but it came with a side of spaghetti with mizithra cheese which I had half of (BAD). I ordered water instead of coke (good) but I had a few spoonfulls of ice cream for dessert (bad).

So I did WAY better than I usually would have since my meal usually consists of a loaf of bread, a large order of spaghetti w/mizithra cheese, extra dressing on the salad and a whole bowl of ice cream. I used 10 of my bonus points but I still have 23 bonus for the rest of the weekend. I think I am doing pretty well but we'll see what the scale has to say on Monday!!!-Krista

Jogging = Time to Think

While I was jogging this morning I started out with a really not-s0-good attitude. I was concentrating on my foot being bruised, the pain in my side, how much I dislike running, I need new shoes, there are so many other things I can be doing with this time etc, etc, etc! I was thinking about all of the negative things about running.

I starting looking around and noticed how blue the sky was. There was a nice breeze blowing the scent of flowers my way.... the sun was shining and I immediately realized that there are so many good things about jogging. Not only is it healthy for me but the fact that I am actually healthy enough to jog shouldnt be taken for granted. My attitude soon changed and I actually ended up enjoying my jog. I also ran further and longer than I had originally intended to.

So there is todays thought; Dont take for granted what your body can do! Instead, get out and enjoy it!!

Udate: I have now been counting points for 5 days and I have only used 3 of my bonus points. I am finding that my cravings are less and I am actually wanting fruits and veggies. Weird! I did weights last night with my hubby, we focused on arms, and by the end my arms were SO tired. Thats a good thing right :) Still no side effects with Alli which I think is great because I have heard horror stories. I think the possibility of side effects are scaring the crap out of me so I am sticking to my plan better than usual. Hey... whatever works!

I am a little concerned about the upcoming weekend since that is when I tend to blow it! I am determined to stick to my points and not let my hard work this week go to waste!! Wish me luck!! -Krista

Lets call this the BEFORE pic!!

I am hyperventilating from actually posting this pic. Usually it would have been deleted RIGHT AWAY!! But I am being BRAVE and posting it here instead in the hopes that it will motivate me to stick to my goals.

I know that I am holding my son and its not the greatest picture but the reason why I am posting it is because my butt looks HUGE and my pants are pulling across my thigh. Pretty :) This was just taken on Memorial day a few weeks ago so its accurate. Even though I wish it wasnt.

Now for yesterdays update. I stayed right within my points. Yay! I drank all my water. Yay! and I went to the gym .Yay! I did the elliptical machine for 26 minutes so its not as long as I would like but at least its something.

I was reading an interesting article yesterday at the gym about Belly fat so I thought Id post it here.

Flat Abs in 3 steps

1. Do heart pumping cardio at least 3 days a week at an intensity rate of 7 or 8. Women doing five workouts weekly who did this for 16 weeks cut ab fat by 8%.

2. When doing crunches hold a 2 pound weight or medicine ball with both hands, arms extended overhead. This strategy improves core activation by nearly 300%.

3. Munch on an ounce of nuts a day. Eating nuts helped studied participants trim excess belly fat.

So there is my update for today! Lets keep up the good work!! -Krista

Keeping a Food Journal

Like I'm sure many of you have, I have heard over and over and OVER again how important it is to keep a food journal. You wouldnt think that this is a hard task but for me its like pulling teeth! I dont know why I have such a hard time with this... but I do.

So for the past couple of days I have been FORCING myself to write down EVERYTHING that I eat and I can tell you that I do eat alot better when I have to write it down. My goal this week is to journal my food EVERYDAY!! I think it will help me dramatically.

Now for my update on yesterday:

I used 3 of my Bonus Points but I just couldnt resist the tortilla chips that my husband brought home from our favorite restaurant but I didnt eat the entire bag so Im proud of myself!

I did not exercise at all yesterday which is terrible of me so today I really need to get a good workout in.

So far I think I have been doing really well especially compared to some of my other weight loss ventures. Off to work out- see ya tomorrow! -Krista

My Family Tree

First, let me do an update about my day yesterday. I did GOOD!!

I stayed within my WW points, I drank all my water and I exercised for 30 minutes. I need to step up my exercise program but I am nursing a hurt foot so that will come with time.

I took my Alli pills and so far no side effects (knock on wood:) So I am hoping that today will be just as good as yesterday.

Now for todays topic... Recently I have been thinking about my family and the hereditary things that may be passed down to me. Let me tell you- its NOT good news! Here's a breakdown:

Diabetes: Mother, Aunt, Maternal Grandfather

Cancer: Brother, Paternal Grandfather

Heart Problems: Father, Maternal Grandmother

Kidney Problems: Maternal Grandmother (she is on dialysis)

Memory Loss: Paternal Grandmother

Obesity: Very common on BOTH sides of the family!

Wow! when you actually write it down its even more scary than just thinking about it. I have terrible genes being passed to me from both sides. Right now I am healthy but I know that if I dont change my eating habits and lose the weight NOW that I will most likely inherit several of these things. SCARY!!

So there is something to think about... what can be passed down to you??

Yesterday I forgot to post my statistics so here they are and let me tell you- this takes ALL of my courage to post these on here but here we go (gasp)

My Statistics

Height- 5'4"

Start Weight- 170 lbs

Goal Weight- 145 lbs

Now on with the day!! -Krista

Day #1- Here we go!!

Ok, here I go!! Its day #1 of my "NEW" life and by new I mean my new eating habits, new exercise habits and just an all around healthier me.

I have decided to start this blog to track my progress in hopes that if I think other people will read it that I will actually stick to something. I am 30 years old with 2 kids ages 6 and 3. I have been married to my HS sweetheart for 9 years.

I have not always had weight issues. I was average in high school and when I was around 18 I was pretty skinny. After I had my daughter I had great success with Weight Watchers and I lost all my baby weight plus more. I kept it off and even after I had my son I was still a healthy weight but the past 3 years have been a stressfull roller coaster of moving, changing jobs, losing jobs, more moving blah, blah, blah. I think the stress is part of my problem. I turn to food for comfort and lets just say that it shows!!

So today I start with healthy eating. I think I will follow Weight Watchers because I have had success on it before and I like the plan. I have also bought some Alli pills but I am a little scared to use them after reading the side effects. We will see!

I have so many things I want to blog about but I think I will go and exercise instead. Wish me luck on my journey.

-Krista