fighting the good fight

This past week I have been working on fighting the good fight. I have still been doing my hour a day six day a week work out on the treadmill and some floor exercises. I've noticed that it is taking more effort to get my heart rate up. Heck it once was getting up from the chair would do that. lol On Wednesday I went to what I lovingly refer to fat class( in reality its a class I can take at the Convent weight management center that gives me tons of information and I love)and was very glad to see three of my other teammates there. Wednesday are had days for classes because of church, so most of the time its me and another lady. Last weeks lesson was about your support people and those who might not be out to help you meet your goals and how to tell the difference. I have to say I did see both kinds in my life, but the good part is I have so many more positive people in my life than negative that I honestly felt very blessed after taking the class. I also realized that my friends at work and the doctors I work for were the some of the most encouraging. That is a good feeling to know that even when you are away from home someone has your back and is cheering you on. On Thursday I didn't have to work late so I was able to get in an hour on the matrix treadmill before our team met up with our trainer Chris for our weekly workout. I have to say if you have never been on the matrix treadmill you have to try it out. You can pick a location you want to go to ( I went to Italy) and it will show you some sites while giving you a short history lesson and letting you walk the terrain. So if it shows you going up hill in the picture the incline on the treadmill will go up. All I can say is WAY COOL! I then worked out an hour with my team. It is always so good to get to see them. I honestly have to say I like them so much and I do see us being friends and doing things when this is done. On Saturday we meet downtown Knoxville with the Knoxville track team. It was soooo cold I think it was like 21 deg. I'm not big on cold and because I hate cold I didn't have the right kind of clothes to try to stay warm. I borrowed a regular pair of thermals from my boys, some gloves, a toboggan and was on my way out the door. Mike and I had decided we were going to do 8 miles. The first four miles were great, I had warmed up feeling fine. Then all of the sweating I was doing froze. I had no clue sweat could freeze. I have not been that cold in a long time. so needless to say our 8 mile jog turned into a 6 mile job because there was no way I could have gone any further. I got myself home got into the tub and the very next day I bought me something called cuddle duds. Its like under armor just cheaper. so as God as my witness I will never freeze again! On Monday I met up with my teammate/friend Lee Ann and we did Zumba. Before the class started I thought oh dancing this is going to be fun not work. Ha Ha Ha Man was I way off base with that one. It was very fun and I loved the faces that Lee Ann would make to me, but it was hard work too. According to my heart rate monitor we burned 700 calories taking that hour class. I don't do that jogging. Even though the class kicked my butt I do think I'm going to make it a point to start going to the class because I did have so much fun. Tomorrow is Thursday and I have a meeting with our dietitian Barbra. I hope that it goes well. I've been putting in the effort with the exercise and watching what I eat, but I'm still not dropping the numbers. My weight goes from 205-202 and I can't seem to get it where I have a #1 as my first number. That is one of my goals and its killing me that I haven't been able to see that happen yet. I know that I'm an all or nothing type thinker and I have to force myself to see the big picture sometimes. I always put on muscle first and then the weight will drop, it just takes my body a few months to figure out what the heck is going on. Even though I know this is how my body works it is still hard not to get a little drawn into the numbers game. That is why I'm both worried to see Barb tomorrow and excited also, because she always helps me see the big picture. I think sometimes we need someone who is not there to sugar coat things to tell us see what we are doing wrong and to help us see what we are doing right. I have motivational sayings on my locker at work and I think its time to make myself one for my workout area at home. I've learned if I read something several times over that is uplifting and motivational I start believing it and honestly isn't that what we are all looking for? Something to believe in..... I'm going to start by believing in myself! There is a story about the first picture. When I was in the wheelchair and was upset because things were not going as well as I had thought they would go my boys gave me a metal bracelet with the words never never never give up on it. Those words were my comfort on the hard days so sometimes you have to go back to the motivation you know works and remember where you can from and where you are going to.

Off to a better year.

Well I have to say that this year has started off better then most that I have had in the past. I have managed to do my hour a day work outs all this week and I have been eating better this week also. This past Tuesday WBIR live at 5 at 4 did a story on me about my wreck and about me joining Covenant Health biggest winner team. I have to say when it was filmed I was scared to death so I rattled on and on. The voice in my head was shouting you need to be quite, but my mouth just wouldn't stop. lol I have to thank Lee Ann Bowman (teammate/friend and producer of live at 5at4) and Chris O'Hearn (life coach/personal trainer..check him out at strongwithin.com) they were such big help to me and Lee Ann made me look like a sane person on T.V. To be honest it also was good for me to get to retell it because sometimes we remember the story but forget the feelings. I drove home that night thinking about just how blessed I am and feeling so much love and accomplishment. I know my story meant a lot to me, but to be honest I never though it would be as uplifting to anyone else. I always thought of it as my blessing and never thought that sharing it would or could bless/help anyone other than me. So to say the least I have been shocked a couple of times this week when people I don't know have stopped me asking if it was me on T.V and saying they wanted me to know what an encouraging story my story was and some of them have shared their life stories and to be honest I got so much from their courage and accomplishments as I got from my own. All I know is if my story helped one person it was so worth it. If you are interested in seeing the interview you can find it at http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=198556....... Ok so on with the week. lol like I said I've been doing a lot of hour treadmill runs and on Thursday the team met up with Chris to learn the proper way to use some weights and how to use the exercise ball for crunches. I just knew I was going to be so sore the next day, but the only place I was real sore was my tummy. I think the reason I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be is because I so a lot of lifting and tugging at work so my body is use to it. This morning I met up with the team at the runners market to do 5 1/2 miles. I was so pumped about seeing if I could jog more of it than I did the last time and I did better this time, but still not as easy to do as running on the treadmill. When I got home I still had all this pent up energy so I decided to jump on the treadmill for 30min. I was proud I did two miles at 15.5 min. This is pretty good for me on the new treadmill. I'm thinking about going to take my hubby and son and go to the mnts tomorrow for a hike if its not raining if so I guess its my old friend treadmill and kinect. lol. I hope you all have a wonderful week and think you so much for reading my blog. I do want you to do one thing for me though I want you to take a minute and realize that maybe we haven't been handed the best hand in life, but if you look around you will notice just how blessed you are and the hard times are only there so that the blessing you get from it will be appreciated so much more.

Hello 2012 I'm so glad to see you!

I have to say this has been the hardest week for me all year. It started off being a great week. I met up with my team mate/friend Lee Ann Bowman( producer of live at five at 4)and Chris O'Hearn (team life coach/personal trainer) because Lee Ann wanted to do a story about me. Can you believe it a story about my life? I kind of had an idea the questions she was going to be asking about my life, my wreck and my goals with weight loss but as soon as the camera started rolling some very excited, bubbly took over my body and I found myself saying things like "I look in the mirror and say you go girl you got this!" lol It is all good though because I am excited and maybe that girl was the real me. She also taped Chris going through some workouts with me too, they were tough. The rest of the week was not as good and I ate everything that wasn't tied down. I got up at 4:30 on Tuesday morning before work and did an hour on the treadmill and that was the only chance I had to workout at all. I work for a surgery center and with it being the end of the year everyone is trying to get their surgeries done since they had met their deductibles. I worked 40hrs in 3 1/2 days soooo I was tired as I could be. I was so glad to see Saturday morning and get together with my team mates to do a hike to the top of House Mnt. I love hiking House Mnt. it is such a pretty hike and because I live at the foot of it I have hiked it several times. I have however always taken the blue trail thinking it was the easier trail man was I wrong. The white trail is a much easier. I was happy too that Lee Ann and Amanda and myself had made a band of sisterhood. It was so nice not having to worry about if someone was going to think bad about you if you had to stop and rest. I got up this morning and decided that this week I'm going to make up for all the exercise and bad food that I had eaten. I was able to do about an hour and 1/2 of exercise before my calf started cramping so I figured it was time to quit. lol I hope all of you have a great week!