The Gift of an Ordinary Day

For all you Mommas out there, you NEED to watch this.  This made me SOB.

Week 3

Whoo hoo! Week 3 is gone.  I am finding blogging about this journey has really helped me!

Weight loss this week was pretty pathetic-- losing *1* whole measly pound.  It was my "black week"..every woman who is reading my blog knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about.  I am also finding I am really struggling on weekends. My routine is busted and I don't get my water in as easily because we are on the go.  Water seems to be a huge part of this for me.

Even while I didn't see the scale jump this week, I  CAN tell you this week I started seeing a difference in how I feel.  I feel AMAZING.  I had even thought about putting the scale away for a while, because it is sort of a mental slam down when it doesn't move the way you THINK it should, WHEN it should,  but I haven't been that tough yet.

This week was the first week of Walk Kansas. Danny and I are really enjoying this challenge, even finding us walking in the rain, so we could get it done before the winter storm hit.  Danny even made a comment while we were walking about how much faster and easier I am walking.  Sometimes its those little things you discover that keep you going.

My quote that describes this week:  KEEP CALM and THINK BEFORE YOU EAT! 

Week 2

Week 2 is down.

I walked 6 days this week.

Not going to lie and I will keep it very real. This week stunk--stunk like a dead skunk! The scale still moved, so technically it was still a success, but the beginning of this week found me slow and sluggish with an icky attitude. I'm blaming the time change.

I perked up later in the week. Still walked even with my Eeyore rain cloud looming over me.  In fact, I am discovering Danny's route is becoming more and more easier for me to do, and I realized last night that I ...gasp... have started to enjoy it.

I was faced with a wedding reception Saturday and went in with the attitude that I wouldn't eat any cake, and would just eat a healthy meal before I went...aka..sitting awkwardly and watch everyone else eat... And then thought about it for awhile. Would I be refusing to eat catered meals and cake for the rest of my life? No. I have plans of still eating a lot of cake in my lifetime. So-- I enjoyed a  very naughty meal of BBQ brisket that melted in your mouth, and enjoyed every.single.stinkin.bite of my piece wedding cake. The world did not end and I started right back up again Sunday morning, with no damage done. Hmm..maybe what they say about moderation really IS true. Who knew!?!

Walk Kansas started Sunday. Danny is joining me on this 8 week challenge.  Should be fun to see what we can do.

Food wise this week it seems my body is FINALLY realizing I'm not trying to kill it.. meaning the hunger pains that sound like a earthquake have drastically diminished. I am making sure I am getting most of my food groups and proper amounts. The only one I just really seem to struggle with is grains. Breads/pasta/rice are a craving trigger for me, so I guess I'm almost "afraid" to eat them, but am going to make a conscious effort to get more added in.. things besides granola.

I  love love love Greek yogurt and I learned a trick this week. The plain kind tastes like sour cream. Not something you really want to eat plain, so I have been adding a spoon full of ranch dressing mix and TA-DA--ranch dip for veggies! For an entire cup of "ranch" it still has less calories (120) than what 2 TBS of REAL ranch is.

My favorite quote of the week: Progress is progress. Whether its one lb or 100 lbs, its something to be proud of.
=)

Burn Out

Some boys have dogs as faithful companions.

Tristen has a cow.

Black Out is Tristen's 2 year old bucket calf. He has fed her warm delicious bottles, and loved her, and walked her,  and scratched her since she was 3 weeks old. I can't figure out if she thinks he's her mom, or if he is just her BFF. Whatever it is, its really something to watch. Her eyes light up when he enters the lot, and she follows him everywhere he goes.


Tristen and Black Out, the day he brought her home, and first time feeding a bottle.


The pair, later that same summer.

Just recently I watched her waddle her fat swollen body up to the barn, to play hide and seek with Tristen. He would pop up in a window, she'd go look to find him. Then he would pop up in the door way, she would waaadddle her way over there, back to the window, back to the door. 

Anyway, back to the story...Black Out is OFFICIALLY a cow, since she is now a momma.

We have been checking Black Out, and Charlie, Jacob's hiefer, for about 2 weeks. Black Out had been showing all the signs, but yesterday we KNEW she was getting close. So exciting except...we had to be in Dodge for wedding reception. (Danny's brother, Tony and his new wife, Stacey's celebration..not something we would have missed!)  I knew my brother would check on her while we were gone, and make sure everything was going ok. We checked on her as we were leaving town. She was still with the herd, munching around a little on grass so things weren't getting too serious yet.  I was just crossing my fingers she somehow would wait for Tristen.

She didn't.

We left at 3. By 7 my brother was calling to let us know that a tiny little black calf that had just arrived into the world.

Tristen was so upset he had missed it, and was worried about Black Out, and immediately grabbed his hoodie and asked to go home. Promises of cake and dancing don't mean anything when there is a new baby calf to go meet. We got him talked into staying for a little while, and then finally just gave in just as the dance was getting going and headed home. We went pasture driving at 11:30 at night, in the dark, trying to find a BLACK cow, and her BLACK calf.  After a long search, we finally found them, and stayed just long enough for Tristen to make sure the baby was warm, was a BOY, and to scratch Black Out's head.  We were awarded with new momma warning moo's when we messed with her new baby. Tristen was awarded with sand paper tongue kisses. I  sat and smiled as I watched them together-She would gently nudge her baby, and then nudge Tristen, as if to say "Do you see my beautiful baby? Do you see him, Tristen?? Do you see what I did??" That kid would have probably slept in the plum thickets with the pair last night, if he thought his parents would have let him.

 
 


So, Tristen now has a Black Out, and a baby Burn Out. If all goes well, the pair will go to the fair this summer as a cow/calf pair, and the year after that, Burn Out will go back as Tristen's steer project. 




“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.” Anatole France

Week 1

Week 1 is over.  I'm still alive and the scale is starting to move.  I've done some sort of  exercise 5 days this week.

I have drank 928 ounces of water, (29 32 oz cups).  (I've decided my bathroom needs painted.)

Weird facts and thoughts from my first week:

I am finding my OCD is spilling over into this challenge. I write down EVERYTHING EVERYDAY. Weight. Water drank. How far I walked or much I excersied. I'm not really sure even why I do this, but I do get a sense of satisfaction when I get to write something down!

My compost bin is LOVING all the vegetable/fruit scraps that being fed to it.

I'm having a problem with wanting to eat the same food.. If I see a loss, then I'm so tempted to just eat that same thing over and over again because I showed a loss while eating it. I do realize how silly and irrational this is.

I am having fun trying new recipes/foods out on my family. This week I purchased flax seed, and have added to homemade granola, (Tristen and I love eating this with yogurt!)  as well as a homemade 3 seed bread that everyone loved.  Flax seed = yum. Who knew.

My husband will be doing a Walk Kansas challenge that starts this weekend and has been walking with me all week. He's a bit hard core, mapping out an entirely different route than what I usually take, becuase he drove around in his truck and mine was only 1.5 miles. His is 2.4, with killer hills. KILLER!!  I am loving the extra one on one time with him though.

Favorite quote of the week: "If you skip today, then what was yesterday for?"

Bring it, Week 2!

A Change

My weight has been the topic here many times here at my blog. It is my struggle.

I decided to challenge myself for 12 weeks.

12 weeks.

3 months.

I thought I would blog about my journey once a week, to keep my self accountable.

I did this with soda. Challenging myself to see if I could do it. Tomorrow will be 12 weeks since I have had a soda.  =)  I'm hoping I have the same good results with this.

Today, this post will be about humiliation.   I am sure ALL obese people have a story about humiliation, but I really, other than a comment here and there from little kid, I have never really experienced this. Until last night at a fitness class.

You know the fat kid you had in gym class?? The guy that always a lap or two behind everyone else? That was me. Now there were people there just as out of shape as I was, and NO ONE said anything to make me uncomfortable, its just I was humiliated with MYSELF. How and when did this happen?  Its a bit humbling to be knocked completely on your butt, and realize you have not only hit rock bottom, but will have to climb OUT of a sink hole to be even considered  TO BE AT the bottom.

I puked. I struggled. I am 33 years old, fat and uncoordinated. I wanted to die. Thought I WAS going to die a few times.  I was terrified people would see me doing the exercises, yet afraid people would see me NOT being able to do the exercises. Wasn't sure I was going to get out to the car with my watery jello like legs. 

BUT-- getting rid of the negative attitude! I showed up. I didn't do numbers of everything like most everyone else, but I did it. And, as the girl said to me who taught the class, I burned more calories than the people who made excuses  and stayed at home.

Today finds me sore, a bit sick, and extremely proud. 

A quote that spoke to me today: 

No matter how slow you go,  you are still lapping everyone on the couch.

Made Me Smile

In following the "So God made a..." theme, this has been floating around Facebook. I love it, and when I showed it to Tristen, he smiled and nodded several times.