Weigh-in update.

Down another pound! Whew! I thought I was going to gain this week because I was up in the middle of the week. I am sore and tired today. Last night's biggest looser was killer! We ran a mile in the heat, lifted weights (really heavy weights), and did some core work.

This is the second time I've dropped weight and really worked hard doing so. There isn't one single easy solution. On Extreme Makeover: Weightloss Edition, one contestant said something like "I can never find a way to loose the weight." Like she was looking for the one magic solution that will instantly and easily take the weight off for her. I literally yelled at the screen "eat right and exercise!".

I think most people have the determination and want. What people don't have is the selfishness to do so. Yes, you need to be selfish. "No, we can't go out to eat." I'm going to exercise 5 days a week....the family will figure something out.

In order to get my five workouts a week, I look at the calendar every week and "marker in" (not "pencil in"). If something comes up (which it rarely does, because within one week I can be pretty accurate), I re-arrange and still get my workouts in. Many times I have to talk it through with my husband to get it right. I think women tend to put everyone else first, but I honestly think that their husbands/partners and children are more than happy to help her get what she needs. She just needs to verbalize her needs... partners and children are not mind readers. Communication! Both my husband I can get what we want/need when we communicate.

I have actually had to tell friends "no" to getting together or going out (sorry ladies), because I need to do this. Guess what....they understand and are completely fine with it! It takes some selfishness - or at least what we feel is selfishness - to get what you need.

If anyone feels like they need to make a similar change, just do it. Communicate with your partner, friends, and family to set up the schedule, and for goodness sake don't give up. There's not point in going through the pain if you're only going to quit anyway. I had one friend tell me that she stopped running because her legs hurt. Well, duh! It's going to hurt. I remember for an entire week I could barely walk down the steps. I may run 5 miles now, but the 2 weeks leading up to that were pure torture. The only way to make the pain stop is to work through it. Push yourself. Do stuff you've never thought you could do. I started 10 weeks ago, I couldn't run for 7 minutes straight at 5 mph. I now can do 3 miles at 6 mph. When I do intervals, I can run beyond 8 mph. You don't know what you can do until you try, and then you can push yourself beyond that.

Enough of that. How about eating? You can either count calories or do a program like Weight Watchers or NutriSystem. Whatever you do track your food. There are times when I could have eaten too much, and times that I could have eaten too little. Here's an example....if you're counting calories and need to eat 1500, eat them in five meals. So eat five 300 calorie meals. Through Weight Watchers I have breakfast, morning snack (usually a protein bar), lunch, afternoon snack (usually almonds, fruit and milk), and dinner. No food after 7:00pm. Tracking food is a PITA (pain in the a$$), I know. But it's one of those "commit" things.

I wish everyone a healthy happy July, and hope that everyone is getting whatever it is THEY want.

"Hot like Africa" -- Alicia

This morning my daughter announces that it's hot like Africa today. Yep. She's right. However, I'll take this over -30F any day.

I had been thinking all night and all morning about how I'm going to keep the kids cool and entertained today. We only have one window air conditioner in the house and it keeps the house cool for the most part. Weeks with temps and humidity like this week, the a/c can't keep up. We're stuck in the living room to keep cool today. During my workout at the gym it occurred to me I could take them to McDonalds for some cool fun. We normally go to the McDonalds in Norwood Young America when we want to make it an outing, because it has a better set up than our local McDonalds (bigger, cleaner, better eating area, etc.).

So how do I manage a trip to McD's on a diet? Eat on the way. It's a 30 minute drive, so I had time to munch on the way. I grabbed a serving of almonds, a banana, and lemon water. I get the kids their meals and a Diet Coke for me. It sounds really hard to go out to eat and not actually eat. Once I tried it, I don't have many problems doing it. There are two benefits (1) no guilt, and (2) more time to concentrate on the kids. Instead of shooshing the kids or getting upset with them because I can't eat MY food, I can help them with their food and have conversation with them. The Diet Coke kept my hands busy and my tummy full until I got home. Once home I made a turkey sandwich. Seriously, if you're struggling with weight and have small kids (or a similar situation) try it once. You'll be surprised at how easy it is.

By the way, if you just can't get away without ordering, ONE regular hamburger and a Diet Coke are within boundaries. On Weight Watchers, it's 7 points. Perfect for a meal. NO FRENCH FRIES. The Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad with Southwest Dressing will work too (I forget with the points value are, but you can look those up...it's reasonable.) I found that eating out from time-to-time helps to keep you on track during the long term. Just be reasonable about it. "One cookie won't kill you....it's the whole box that causes trouble." Right?

Another eating out tip: Pizza Hut buffet. See if you can get the kid's buffet price and explain that you're doing the salad bar and you only want one piece of pizza. The pizza slice is small and you'll fill up on salad (watch the dressing portions!). Takes care of that pizza craving for a while. I give myself 7 points for the pizza and 4 for the dressing. Still reasonable number of points for a meal.

Any other tips?

Exercise and vacations

On such a hot day, the kids are doing as well as can be expected. The little guy is sleeping and the big kids are playing Chutes and Ladders. We're taking them to the pool later today. It's way to hot for me to take Ty to the pool this afternoon. In reality, I'd like to participate in the kettlebells class at the gym, but some family time is needed too. Jeff gave me a kettlebell for my birthday, so I could exercise at home later this evening.

Jeff and I ran a 5K relay for the first time on Saturday. Ya, it didn't go so great, but we did it. I'm not a fast runner. The experience leads me to question again if I even want to run. I've never really liked it, do I want to pursue it?

I've lost a little over 15 pounds since starting Biggest Looser (20 since starting my weightloss journey). I'm super excited about that! Instead of running distance, I've started running intervals. This seems to work out better for me, and I don't spend as much time on the treadmill. I spend 30 minutes running intervals and then 15 minutes doing something else like the bike or elliptical. Then of course a quick round on the weights. Tracking my food on Weight Watchers has been very beneficial. WW has worked better for me than counting calories.

Looking forward to seeing Jessica and Dave on our family vacation in August. I'm very excited that they agreed to rent a cabin with us. The kids are SO looking forward to seeing auntie.

We scheduled Jeff's birthday trip! I'm not going to tell you how old, but it's a big one...therefore an entire trip dedicated to the big day. We'll be staying at Mountian Villas in Duluth close to Spirit Mountain. We're going at the end of October, so we recognize that the weather will be hit-n-miss. In any weather event, we'll have a blast!

Lots of fun things to think about.