treading trodden trails

I have decided to also join the Healthy You Challenge. I am very excited about this. I like all the little buttons and badges.

She has asked that all of the challenge participants tell about themselves. Well, I am me. I've been blogging for a while, and doing this weight loss thing half-assed for a longer while. No longer. I know I can be successful because I have been in the past. In March 2004, I weighed a lowest of 176 (from 221 then). Last week I weighed at 239, and I've quit playing around. I want more from my life. I want cute clothes. I want babies. I want my husband to think I'm smoking hot. I want to be a runner. I want so many things that I deserve, and I'm going after them one day at a time. I live in Kentucky, am an incredibly happy wife, and am searching for a new job (I think I've found one several months out...now I just need something to pay the bills in the interim so I can quit my current job).

Also, I post pictures of what I eat every day. It keeps me accountable and helps me put thought and effort into my meals. Here's (most of) today's.

Remember how I said I had to leave at 5:30am? I rethought things, and actually left around 5:10. It was really dark. I needed gas. And I decided I needed caffeine as well so I (gasp!) gave into the Starbucks drink. And it was awesome. But I counted it, and I had a banana instead of the Mini Muffins I was having as an accompaniment for a long time.I was with two teenage girls all day, and at least I convinced them to eat at Subway for lunch. I didn't have my camera with me, but I had a roast beef on wheat (no cheese) with veggies, honey mustard, and sweet onion sauce. I had only ate about two-thirds of the sandwich (it was soggy by the time I was able to eat it), no chips and drank water. When I finally got back home, I was very hungry, and this is my snack.I don't even know what to say about dinner. It was awesome. Chopped Salad with Spicy Pork and Buttermilk Dressing. I am so glad we have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. And, yes, that is a celebratory "I survived a 3-day workweek!" glass of wine behind my plate.
We went to the gym and I totally kicked butt. However, I was pretty famished when I got home. I put everything into fitday.com, and realized I probably should eat something. So I had a bowl of wheat chex.
And it was good.

Did I mention that we totally kicked it at the gym? I spent 40 minutes on the treadmill, 40 minutes on the bike (both thanks to "What Not To Wear"), and then we finished up with some weights. My arms got really jiggly and didn't want to lift anymore. That was a good feeling. I was kinda nervous since I took yesterday off from the gym. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to motivate myself to go back. I am very tired today (lack of sleep), but after Jeopardy, Nathan gave good encouragement, and off we went. Today is the best I have felt after the gym so far this year. I felt strong instead of weak. I felt motivated to work harder instead of disappointed about how much better I used to be.

It's time for me to shower and then to catch up on sleep. Have a great weekend!