New Year, New Shot

February 8. Yeeeaahhh. Obviously, it's been awhile since I last blogged. (And thank you, Robin, for the encouragement to keep at it.) I refuse to beat myself up about my long absence from my goals; is it really helpful, after all? Can I go back in time and change things? No. So here goes. A whole new year, a whole new shot to get this right. Aaaahhhh.

I should probably do a whole new measurement as well, but since it's already the 8th of the month, and February is such a short month, I'll go ahead and wait until next month to do the measuring. But I am at 209. I know that. Now, I can't remember exactly what my last weigh-in was, but I'm thinking I had a gain over the last couple months. Oh well. Again, can't be changed.

A friend of mine and I were discussing weight loss and goal weights yesterday. I said that my goal weight was 130. I've been told that 125-135 would be a good weight for me, which I think is much more realistic and healthier all around than the 114 the Wii Fit says I should be. Good grief--I haven't been that trim since high school, maybe my first year of college. Do I really care to get back to that size? Not really. I'll be 35 in less than 6 months now and I've had four children. Is it realistic for me to weigh what I did in high school? Naaah. How many mothers my age or older (okay, mothers without their own personal trainers or chefs) are as slim as they were in high school? Not many I know.

So what am I going to do to change things? Thanks to my wonderful hubby and all his extra hours of side jobs on the weekends we were home this fall, I have a Wii Fit Plus and a Biggest Loser game to shake up my daily workouts. Yes, I can let Jillian Michaels kick my tooshie on a daily basis (and she does!). I've also been working on drinking more water, eschewing the sodas (but oh, do I love my sodas!), and avoiding the snacking. I purposely do not stock the house with yummy snacks because I know I do not have great self control (why else would I be at 209 lbs?). On a sidebar, and something I'm particularly proud of, there have been 2 Cadbury Creme eggs in my house since Saturday. That is a huge thing. Now that I've reminded myself that they're in fact awaiting me in the kitchen, I'm going to focus on something else so that I do not get up and go get them. I love Cadbury Creme eggs! But I certainly do not need to eat one at barely 9 AM when I haven't even had breakfast yet. How long can they sit there without being eaten? Hmmm. Anyway! Along with my lack of exercise and proper eating habits, my devotions have been lacking as well (to my shame). I'm working on reistablishing my 6 AM wakeup each morning so that I have time for my devotions before the kids wake up. My time with the Lord should be more important to me than a few extra minutes of sleep. Speaking of a few extra minutes of sleep, I need to reistablish my 10:30 bedtime (with lights out no later than 11) so that I have plenty of time to sleep each night.

As I said earlier, this is the year I will turn 35. I want to develop good discipline habits NOW, this year. At the end of the year, I want to no longer be the lazy, undisciplined woman that I am now. Everything else will follow. That is the very best resolution I can have by far. Pray for me!

Week 13 Report

This was a pretty decent week. Even with the candy in the house I didn't go hog wild and eat everything in sight (a first). I got in 3 out of 4 days of my walking DVD, stepping it up to the 2 mile, 30 minute workout. And I did 6 out of 7 days of devotions. Still no Total Gym days, though. I'm going to have to figure out alternate days perhaps, because Tuesdays and Thursdays just aren't working for me.

Gonna do even better next week!

Week 12

Week 12 marks the end of October. I'm gonna probably lose this one to my sister.

I ended up with 4 out of 7 days for devotions and 2 out of 4 days for the walking DVD. I broke my water jug, but figured out I don't technically need as much water as I thought I did.

A new month marks new goals, so I need to step it up. I want to prove to myself that I can still watch my diet and enjoy the holidays at the same time. It's also very challenging at home because now after the Fall Festival, the kids have a TON of candy in the house which will be a test of my willpower. I've made a point of not keeping goodies in the house which has helped me to not be a snacker. I have a very big goal to lose 7 pounds this month, putting me at under 200 pounds--a place I haven't been in 5 years. I'm very excited about it and nervous at the same time.

Definitely pray for me and stay tuned.

Week 11

Did better on the devotions, getting 5 out of 7 days. Still having a hard time remembering to get out the Total gym.

Started the week drinking my water but didn't finish strong.

Not a strong week overall.

Month # 3 Stats

I missed last month's stats, so I'm starting a new weigh-in cycle on the first of each month. Here's the newest stats and how they compare to the September 10 weigh-in.

Weight - 206, down 4 pounds!!!!! Yay! I've been pretty much consistently losing 2 pounds a month. My goal for this month is an ambitious one of 7 pounds so that I can finally get below the 200 mark (and stay there!). Gonna have to step it up.

Tummy - 48" - stayed the same.

Arm - 15 3/4" - lost 3/4"

Thigh - 24" - gained an inch

Waist - 45" - down 3 inches!!

Chest - 45 1/2 - gained 1/2 inch

I'm pleased overall but expect to put up some bigger numbers next month, despite the Thanksgiving holiday.

Week 10 Report

Wait...week 10?! What happened to week 9?? (And, truth be told, we're already smack dab into week 11 already, soo..) Obviously, something happened in the Gentry house to keep me from blogging.

During week 9, we had some visitors--Troy's parents were here for a conference at the seminary. So I did great at my routines early in the week...but not so much at the end. So that's what happened to week 9.

THEN, on week 10--well, really at the end of week 9--almost the entire household got sick. Tayler came down with what was diagnosed as swine flu (although I'm convinced that Troy and Clayton had it as well but they only test people over age 2 who are special risk groups, which is why Tayler was tested and not them) and Tori & Cody came down with viral upper respiratory infections. Thankfully, I did not get sick, but taking care of 5 people very obviously is a wear on the system. Whenever I wasn't making a run to buy more supplies for the sickies, washing endless medicine dosage cups, TRYING to stay on top of the laundry (definitely lost that war--and now have Mount Vesuvius of laundry to tackle today), popping yet another movie in the borrowed TV/DVD player for the kids, or heating up I don't know how many pans of soup, I was in my bed completely dead to the world. And since some of the medicines had to be administered 'round the clock....well, it was like having a baby in the house again.

Thankfully, everybody is on the mend and working to get over lingering coughs and regain some strength, which means that it's time to once again pay some attention to my routines. Needless to say, I missed the weigh-in this month, and given how close we are to the end of the month, I will wait and weigh in on November 1.

Week 8 part 2

Wow. I should've just carried over from part one.

I didn't get any exercise in other than cleaning. BUT I did drink at least one 32 oz jug of water every day which is a HUGE thing for me. I'm supposed to be drinking two of them, but for now I'm going to be thrilled with the fact that I drank water each day and completely ignored, for the most part, the soda that was in the house. That is a big thing for me.

Now this week I need to work on my devotions, my exercises, and make sure that I am drinking two 32 oz jugs of water each day (a little tip for those, like me who aren't big water drinkers--add a couple of those Crystal Light to go packets to the water and you'll have flavored water. My particular favorite is the pink lemonade, but I'm going to try some others as well).