Finally Hit Five!

I FINALLY hit the First Five Pounds! :D I am SO excited I just HAD to share! :) I set a goal for myself to lose 20 lbs in this 10 weeks & I was discouraged when I weighed in this week & found myself *behind*. :P

I've been super-busy & haven't MADE or TAKEN the time to exercise...THAT is changing! Even if it's just taking 5 minutes here and there to jog in place, do a little strength/resistance, I'm finding it helps! :) I work from home as a transcriber so I'm trying to take 5 minutes each hour to get up from my chair & do SOMETHING!

I've also found that drinking my water is REALLY easy if I make sure to refill the water pitcher & put it in the frig before going to bed! (I like my water COLD!) Can't believe we have less than three weeks until Thanksgiving here in the U.S. I KNOW that's going to be a hard day for me, but I'm already planning how I'm going to handle it! It feels GREAT to know that I can plan ahead so that I don't just eat without thinking & then feel guilty later! :)

Hot drink ~ Low Cal

I'm not a fan of coffee (unless it's the INCREDIBLY unhealthy mocha frappucino from McDonald's)! Winter & cold weather usually mean hot chocolate for me. Because I'm an admitted Chocolaholic I usually put 2 packets of mix into a coffee mug. :O However, after looking at the calorie intake for the relatively small mug of cocoa, (Swiss Miss w/ marshmallows = 200 calories for the 2 packs!) :O I decided to check how many calories were in the apple cider packets I'd gotten not long ago...I am SO glad that I did! Instead of 100 calories per packet, the cider is only 15 calories per packet! :D That means I can make one of my BIG mason jars full of hot cider & have 3 Hershey's kisses and STILL not equal ONE packet of that hot chocolate mix! ;)

Inspirational Video

http://www.aoltv.com/2011/10/12/josh-drops-more-than-a-pound-a-day-i-used-to-be-fat-video/?ncid=webmail6
AMAZING! When you see this young man at the end of the summer ~ WOW! I was TOTALLY blown away! I don't watch much tv, nevermind reality tv, so this was inspiring for me. I loved what the trainer said...I trained a kid who through just hard work & clean diet lost 117 lbs in 110 days and the only reason he was able to do it is because he didn't know he wasn't supposed to be able to!

Introduction ~ Stephanie

My name is Stephanie. I'm a 35-y/o work from home mom. I have an 8-y/o son who is currently diagnosed with a learning disability, Aspergers Syndrome, ADD & petit mal (absence) seizures. I also have a 4-y/o *typical* daughter who is very bright & wants to learn everything her older brother knows. :) I transcribe cases before the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals & know WAY more than I ever wanted to about illegal immigration in the U.S.
All my life I was thin & *fit* until I got engaged & graduated from college. I discovered I was a *stress-eater* when I went for my wedding dress fitting & couldn't fit ~ I gained about 40 lbs in 9 months! :O That 40 lbs took me nearly 2 YEARS to lose! When I got married, my step-son was 10 & my hubby & I had decided we were okay with not having any kids of our own. After 2 years of marriage, though, he changed his mind, and I was okay with that. We decided to try to have a baby. I was FINALLY back at my *old* weight when I got pregnant with my son. I gained 60 lbs during my pregnancy. :O By the time my son was 3 years old I was within 10 lbs of my pre-baby weight. It was around this time that my hubby who had gone from not necessarily wanting any more kids, to *well, maybe just one* thought maybe we should have *just one more*. ;) So we decided to try again, and still carrying 10 lbs of weight I'd gained during my first pregnancy, I got pregnant again. I gained nearly 60 lbs AGAIN! :O My daughter is now 4 & I've been down as much as 40 lbs, only to gain it back.
While I regularly track my weight & semi-regularly track my measurements (though not all of the ones used here) I've never REALLY been accountable before. My goal is to lose 20 lbs over the next 10 weeks ~ this would bring my weight out of the *obese* category & into the *overweight* category. From there I still need to lose another 30 lbs to be within the *healthy* weight range for my height & frame.