I’ve got exciting news! First, I’m so super excited that Me and my Big Little Sister are going to Houston, Texas next month for vacation. We have friends and family there, and I’m going to go to Lakewood Church. Do you know what Lakewood church is? It’s the biggest church in the whole country. And, do you know who the pastor is? JOEL OSTEEN! If you read my blog then you know I’m like a Joel Osteen groupie. Okay, maybe “groupie” is bad choice of words, I don’t want to go back stage and….ummm well…let me stop while I’m still ahead lol…. Let’s just say I’m a super fan, yeah that sounds better. On so many occasions Pastor Joel has brought me out of funk and inspired me to be a better person. Even recently, it was his sermon that helped get me through my first week of Weight Watchers. I constantly tell myself all day long, “I weigh what I should weigh, I’m Healthy, I’m Active, I’m Disciplined, I’m Focused and I have what it takes.” My sister thinks I’ll faint before the sermon as soon as I see him and, I probably will.
And in other exciting news I got braces today! Yes I’m a 30-year-old with braces. I had them in college and swore after 2 years of torture that I would always wear my retainer. Well, like most people, I didn’t wear it, and my teeth spread back out. I couldn’t stand to look at them all spaced out anymore. Although over the years, I’ve gotten really good at hiding my teeth when I talk and even better at taking pictures. See Exhibit A, Me and Big Little Sister on Christmas.
I found this cute little cosmetic dentist’s office. The dental assistants cater to you like Hooter’s girls and walk around in high heels with their scrubs. They have flat screen TV’s at every station and fresh-baked cookies on your way out the door. The dentist is young and kinda hot too…I had to ask myself am I really checking him out? Lol I’m sure I’m paying for all of this extra stuff, but they treat you so good! It’s nothing like the kid’s baseball themed orthodontist office I went to years ago. And, get this, the dentist is part of the 6 month smile program. My braces are clear, and they will be off in 3 or 4 months, not years. When I’m all done he’s installing permanent retainers so I don’t ever have to worry about them spacing out again. I’m so excited! Now for the “Before” pic, See Exhibit B, the scary real deal. (I can’t believe I’m posting this.)
Anyway, if you’re wondering about the food and activity side of things, me and my Little Sister danced and sweated with the Kinect last night and I’m down a total of 7.6 pounds just in case you didn’t see my post on my Facebook Page. Man, it feels good to be in control.
I had an awesome week! I’ve been going to the gym and eating healthy. (My internet has been down, sorry I haven’t gotten a chance to blog about it.) Friday, I went to lunch with my Big Little Sister at my favorite Mexican restaurant and I did not touch the fresh hot tortilla chips. I ordered a salad instead of my regular deep fried burrito… After years of my father begging me to read the The South Beach Diet Book
, I finally did. I decided to give the diet an honest try. If you want to know more about the South Beach Diet, you can check out my Video Book Review. My Dad has done a good job of maintaing his weight loss and adopting the diet as a lifestyle change. Someone asked me what’s the status with Weight Watchers? I still love Weight Watchers, but I wasn’t working the program like I should. I was simply tired of keeping points. I learned from my hypnosis CD that’s it’s okay to change diet plans every few months or so. You don’t have to stick with one plan forever. This week I’ve eaten delicious omelets, and great snacks like celery dipped in garlic-flavored hummus. Who knew I would like that?
I realized that I have 2 choices; I can track my food and eat everything in proportion, or only eat certain food (High protein, low carb, low fat) and not track. I actually just remembered that Weight Watchers has a “Core” plan that I never thought to try because I thought restricting food was too ridiculous. But, I’m giving South Beach an honest try to see which I like more. Once the carb cravings died down after a couple days, it wasn’t so bad.
I mentioned before that I’m helping my church with a walk-a-thon. Last week there were six of us at my 7 AM group training session. However, this week, most of last week’s participants were out of town or unavailable. But, I dragged myself out of bed, actually hoping it was raining, or that no one would show up. I despise mornings…I was standing there alone at 7:05, and I was ready to head back to my car, until I saw my sister’s car, speeding toward the History Museum where we planned to meet. There was no turning back now, because she hates mornings as much as I do. She said she only had a few hours of sleep, but came anyway to support me. Then I got a text from one of the girls at the church who was also on her way. Once she arrived, I told them, I would take them on a scenic walk off the regular path. Unbeknownst to me, we stumbled upon the 9/11 memorial. It was so amazing, they had flags representing those that were lost in the tragedy 10 years ago. Each flag had a brief description of a person that lost their life that day. It was quite a site to see. We took some pics and shared “Where were you when the plane hit the tower stories.”
I didn’t have my iPod tracker thingy
on, but my guess is that we walked about 2 miles. After our walk, I came home and made a broccoli cheese omelet with turkey bacon. It was yummy. I did some laundry and dozed off and I was almost late for my orientation boot camp class. I got a Groupon for 10 Classes for $30. The class started with awkward endurance/flexibility tests, which reminded me of elementary school gym class. Finally we got to work out, in a quick mini version of the class. After doing the “Spiderman” on the floor and jumping jacks for the warm up, it was hard to imagine how difficult a real class will be. Then, we did interval training as we rotated stations doing squats, planks, and pull ups with resistance bands dangling from the wall. I think it boot camp class will be a big challenge, but I’m ready! Tonight my old co-worker friend is having a Fight watch party for Mayweather v. Ortiz. Now that’s what I call a Super Saturday!
I went to church this morning. My mother and another member of the board asked me to assist with the church walk-a-thon. Of course you know that’s right up my ally. I had about 20 people to sign up after church. I even scheduled two group training sessions before the walk on September 24. That’s not really enough time to train, but I’m working with the date they chose. After church, I went to the gym, but I went pretty late. My 10K training schedule indicated that I should complete 3.5 miles today. However, I was only able to complete about 2.7 miles on the treadmill before the gym closed. I was reading The South Beach Diet book as I walked on the treadmill. It’s a very easy read, and I almost read the whole book in one day. I actually learned a lot, and I’m going to do a video book review soon. I walked until the security guard came and put me out because the gym was closed. I was going to walk the last mile or so outside the gym, but I got lazy, and there was this weird old guy sort of following me around. He got beside me on the treadmill, and told me to have a happy holiday, at least 3 times in 5 minutes. Is Labor Day even a real holiday? … Then he was following right behind me as I walked outside. I realize now that he might be kind of “special,” but I felt more comfortable just going home.
Sometimes the gym reminds me of church. Whenever you backslide and don’t show up regularly like you’re supposed to; they are still right there waiting for you with open arms. I have not worked out in days and days and days. It’s been so hot that the heat has drained my energy. But, I decided that I could no longer use the heat as an excuse and made up my mind that I needed to go to the gym. It was much cooler outside today; it was only about 96 degrees. Although, I have been keeping busy reading and writing a lot while hiding out indoors. I even started the reading the Harry Potter Series
. I know I’m late, but I had to read the series by a lady that sold 11 Million books in one day. It’s amazing how she links every detail together in her books…I’ve got some of my own great book ideas floating around in my head, so I took a pen and paper with me to the gym. I scribbled down some of my thoughts as they came to me while I leisurely walked on the treadmill.
The sun was still beaming down on me through the wall length glass windows, and even though they had on the air-conditioning it still felt like I was walking outside in the heat. At one point I started to feel like the sun was only shining on me alone as some sort of punishment for missing so many days. I was drenched in sweat by mile two. I was really ready to leave and head home, but I figured the least I could do was walk three full miles. I managed to scribble a few more thoughts onto my paper before I was totally distracted by the man who got on the bike machine next to me. He was singing along with his music headphones so loudly. I know every once in a while we all hum the chorus, but this guy was singing every lyric and missing every note. At one point I was almost thinking I was supposed to be singing along with him. Finally, a lady walked past and asked him who he was talking to. Embarrassed, he explained that he was singing along with his music. She teased him a little bit about his “singing” voice. He must not have realized how loud he was. I was glad that she talked to him, because his off key melodies were now transformed into a quiet hum. I was so distracted by his “singing”, and the weird little muddy water sports competition show on TV that the last mile was over before I knew it. I walked a 5K on the treadmill. It feels good to stop making excuses and get back to where I belong.
