Last of the Hot 100-going out with a bang! challenge.

Today marks the last day of the ‘Hot 100–going out with a bang!’ challenge hosted by Steve over at Log My Loss. This challenge focused on our goals and our achievements of them over the last 100 days of 2009. Even if some of our goals weren’t achieved, we have all grown and learned from the experience of the challenge and may now know what DOES need to be done to get us to where we want to be.

That being said,

Here were my goals for Steve’s  “Hot 100-Going Out with a Bang” challenge.

1. Finish the C25K program–Done, done, done!
   
2. Run 5k twice per week (or more) once done the program–just got started with the goal as my treadmill was down for a week and Christmas guests. (I know, an excuse!)
   
3. Lose 10 lbs — starting weight 168 lbs–my official weigh-in this morning revealed that I lost 11 lbs total that have stayed off. Yeah! 11 lbs. I am down to 157. So the holidays only did 2 lbs of damage from my lowest of 155.
   

I want to say that participating in this challenge was FUN and was very interesting to see how others progressed and struggled along the way like myself. I never felt alone in my journey and could learn from the other participants what may work and what may not. It really helped with motivation and accountability. With that, I have decided to join Steve’s new challenge, the ‘Perfect 10′ challenge starting tomorrow. My goals for the challenge will be up on this blog tomorrow. Lets see how far I can go. Head on over and check it out.

New challenges.

I don’t know but, I must be crazy. I have joined two new challenges which start on January 1st 2010. One is Steve’s New Year 100 mile running challenge over at daily burn and 265 and falling. My goal is to run 100 miles in the month of January! Can I do it? I really am not sure but, I will do my best to push myself and reach this goal. I will be well on my way to a half marathon by then I think! LOL. Steve is also hosting a 500 miles bike challenge for those more interested in biking or both.

The other challenge is Steve’s over at logmyloss.com. It is the Perfect 10 Challenge where it is 10 weeks in length to work on our specific goals. Each friday is goal update day to let everyone know how we are doing. We also need to, with each weekly update, tell one thing that our other blog friends don’t know about us. That will be very interesting.

Now I need to sit down and think about what my goals will be for the Perfect 10 challenge and get them posted for January 1. I am excited to get started on these challenges and see how far I can go, how hard I can push myself, how much more towards my last 25 lbs I can lose. ( might be 30 lbs once I weigh in tomorrow or friday and see what kind of damage was done during Christmas!) I also need to think about things I can reveal on my weekly updates. Yikes! LOL.

So pop on over to these two favorite sites of mine and check out their challenges. Maybe pick one for yourself and get joined up. The more the merrier and you might just be surprised at what you can accomplish yourself.

exhaustion….

Wow, I am ever exhausted. I spent 6 out of 7 days last week in the city, all day long. I just had so much trouble trying to find gifts for my family. Nobody this year had any idea what they wanted. So I had to spend a lot of time browsing and deciding. I am all done except for one more for my daughter, which I can get here in town, and one for a coworker. I really feel I should find something else for my son too but, I have no idea. He just  wants money. So I  haven’t had a chance to have a break in 2 weeks straight now and I really felt my exhaustion at work today. I am going to skip working out tonight and crawl into my cozy fleece sheets and watch a movie. My lucky duck hubby gets from tomorrow until Jan. 4 of for holidays. The dog!

Lets see how I did on last weeks goals.

1. drink 8 glasses of water daily.–that would have been a miracle. I just can’t seem to get my water in when I am in the city!
2. get in 5 workouts even if it means dusting off my old DVD workouts until treadmill is fixed.–once treadmill was fixed, I managed 3 workouts. 2 of them running 5 K and 1 yoga.
   
3. do at least 2 sessions of yoga.–managed 1.
   
4. eat lots of veggies.–Ate out a lot being in the city which was a great lack of veggies. My body just cries for veggies now.
   
5. try to lose another pound. Will take it week by week to see how much more I can lose for the challenge.–shamefully gained 3!
   
6. get through the week and especially the weekend without any junk food!–ha!
7. try a new vegetable or fruit.–missed out on both fruits and veggies this week.

This week goals I think I will keep the same except for the new fruit or veggie. I don’t plan to leave this town at all this week which means I probably won’t find a fruit or veggies that I have not had before. And I really need to get in my water. I feel so dehydrated but, when you don’t drink your water regularly, trying to get started again is like pulling teeth! And now that my treadmill is fixed, I will try to run 5 k at least twice each week or more.

I hope all of you friends of mine out there are ready for Christmas and managing to keep on track with your workouts and healthy eating.

Edit:

I just read that it is time for the next Hot 100 update. The time is just flying by! So…

Here are my goals for Steve’s  “Hot 100-Going Out with a Bang” challenge.

1. Finish the C25K program—Yipey! I am done!
   
2. Run 5k twice per week (or more) once done the program–started last week with 2 — 5k workouts.
   
3. Lose 10 lbs — starting weight 168 lbs–lost 13 then gained back 3. hoping to get rid of the 3 again before the end of the challenge.
   

Steve, the maker of the Hot 100–going out with a bang! challenge, is coming up with another challenge for us for then the Hot 100 is over. Hurray! Challenges keep my going, and keep me accountable. I can’t wait to see what Steve has in store for us.

Bad luck does happen in threes…..

Thursday Dec 17—- I will start off by saying how I headed out to find that I had a completely flat rear tire. Crap! I kept my son home from school (he only had a half day anyways) to give me a hand with the flat. We decided it would be better to go get the flat fixed at the local tire shop than to put on my spare since I needed to go to the city (still not done Christmas shopping! What do you get a 15 year old boy anyways who doesn’t play video games?) and the tread on the spare is different, not a winter tire  and, the roads are so slippery, I didn’t need any help tread wise. They fixed my flat in record time. It was apparently a bead seal that was broken, which takes us to two days before………

Monday Dec 14— Doing pretty great with the Christmas shopping with my dad in the city. Roads are pretty slick. I was heading done a straight street, going slower than usual due to the slippery roads when for no reason, I was going sideways into on coming traffic. Amazingly, and I believe it was Gods doing here, there was a break in the traffic from all directions. Good thing as the more I tried to get control of my jeep, the more it kept going sideways this way, then that way. Finally I gave up and my jeep did two or three 360’s in the middle of the road and slid full speed sideways into a lamp post. Thank God! the snow bank against the post was thick enough and high enough (it was up to my window) that we came out of the damage free. Not a scratch, or dent or piece of plastic fender broken off. Not a lick of damage, or so I thought…………..

Thursday Dec 17—–My son explained that the bead seal had probably broken by the force of my jeep hitting the snow bank sideways. Okay, at least it was fixed and I was ready to go. I picked up my friend, who was coming to the city for the very first time with me, and who does not ever drive in the city herself. We are about 3/4 of the way there driving down the highway when I hear a thunking, flapping sort of noise. Crap! I have a flat again. We get out and check and there is absolutely NO flat tires. Weird. Maybe it it ice build up in the inside of the tire area causing my tires to be unbalanced, and I will wash it out later. We keep on going and the thunking is so load and scary we stopped at the first safe gas station we could get to. Something told me to check the tire lug nuts. They were FINGER LOOSE! One frickin fell off when I touched it!. I was freaking out and not really sure what to do about it. We tightened the nuts but were sure that it probably needed to be jacked up to make sure the tire was fully on. And what if it was damaged.

I have a fantastic hubby. I called him and he immediately left work to come help. Good thing as the threading on the bolts had gotten worn down from the rim hitting and rubbing them for the 40 mins it took to drive there. My hubby hobbled my jeep home and went straight to the guys who fixed my tire. They replaced everything that was screwed on my jeep from f%@k up with the tire and they bought both my friend and I a rose bowl. They would like to see me to apologize but, right now I just can’t accept their apology. My friend and I could have been killed. I know the right thing would be to forgive but, I just can’t right now. They stress finally caught up with me last night and I have been up, unable to sleep and feeling physically ill. I am also afraid of driving today (I need to go and finish shopping and deal with my sons broken cell phone) so that isn’t helping. Winter driving has always scared me but with this weeks events, I am freaking scared!!

Good news but lazy!

Hurray! my treadmill is up and running again. I didn’t need a new belt or new motor after all. My belt is definitely wearing out quick and not going to last too much longer but, with the proper maintenance , which I had the service guy give me a lesson on, it will hopefully last for another year or two.

The service guy was very quick too. I call the store at 11:00 am on Tuesday morning and he was at my house by 2 that afternoon. Turns out he was heading past from a town farther east and had some time before his next appointment. So sweet of him. I am so glad to have it back. But, last night I was too busy too have a workout and today, I was just too darn LAZY! My eating has been the craps with many bags of chips, KFC and pizza in the last 5 days. My dad was here for a visit and in spite of my best efforts, chips always play a roll in my day when he is here. I know have a 2.5 lb gain to show for it and a very tough 3 weeks of workouts to get those chips back off my hips!! I must get strong for Christmas. I must!!!!

Almost finished my shopping for Christmas. I am heading out again tomorrow and hopefully will be able to finish. I think the kids will be excited!

I hope everyone is well and healthy and not struggling too much with your eating and exercise. This time of year can be extra tough. Stay strong and do your best. We can all win during these holidays!

C25K done!! and weekly update.

Inspite of the -40 degrees celsius that we had yesterday (apparently we were the second coldest place next to some city in Russia!), I made the 40 min trek into the city to hit the gym. It had been since Thursday that I have had a chance to exercise.

I decided to run on the track instead of the treadmill. It darn near killed me! One side of the track has a hill. And I had forgotten about that and, I am not so use to the hills (I am too much of a wuss to up the incline once in a while on my treadmill) so, I thought I would die trying to get my last day of C25K done. But I did it! 5km run! It feels so great to be able to run 5K straight again. And a lesson is learned about the hills. Avoid them at all costs!!! Just kidding.   I must make sure to vary my incline once in a while.

C25K program is DONE!!!

As for my treadmill, I guess my hubby is more impressed with my weight loss efforts and how hard I have been working than I thought. He told me to hurry up and get the service guy in to fix my treadmill even though it will cost around $400.00 because, I need to have my treadmill so I can keep up the good work. He also knows how hard it is for me to get back into a steady program once I have been off for a week or two. He even commented that he is not surprised it needs some repairs as I have logged many, many miles on that thing in the past two years (plus I am on my third pair of running shoes which, he said it is also about time I got my 4th pair!).

Humm? where is my hubby? What have you done with him?

Now for my weekly update:

My goals for last week were:

1. drink 8 glasses of water daily.–managed to get them in. most of them were in hot water form.
2. finish week 9 of C25K.–DONE! yipey!
   
3. do at least 2 sessions of yoga.–just haven’t found the time when the house wasn’t in an uproar.
   
4. eat lots of veggies.–with every meal.
   
5. loss 1 more lb to make it 10 lost total so far.–managed to lose 4 to make it a total of 13 lost so far for the challenge.
   
6. get through the week and especially the weekend without any junk food!–had one night where I snacked on hickory sticks brought home by my hubby. I love hickory sticks and can’t stay away!
   
7. try a new vegetable or fruit.–I tried avacodos. They were used in tuna salad instead of mayo. Not too bad.
   

So my goals for this next week will be:

1. drink 8 glasses of water daily.
2. get in 5 workouts even if it means dusting off my old DVD workouts until treadmill is fixed.
3. do at least 2 sessions of yoga.
4. eat lots of veggies.
5. try to lose another pound. Will take it week by week to see how much more I can lose for the challenge.
6. get through the week and especially the weekend without any junk food!
7. try a new vegetable or fruit.

Now I am off to see if my Jeep will start and get it warmed up nice and good. It is -32 degrees right now, not counting the wind chill. I need to go in and get some Christmas shopping done with my dad. He made the trek here, a 4 hour drive, on Saturday just so we could get some shopping done today. Hopefully his car will start today, it took the whole day yesterday to get it started even after having been plugged in.

Enjoy your day, keep warm and keep making those healthy choices!

Hot 100 update time…only 20 days left!

It is time for another Hot 100- going out with a bang! update! Wow, only 20 days left in the challenge. I hope everyone is doing their best to reach the goals they set for themselves.

I myself, am working my damndest, and pushing myself in challenges others have set in addition to this Hot 100 challenge.

Here are my goals for Steve’s  “Hot 100-Going Out with a Bang” challenge.

1. Finish the C25K program–one more day to do which will be at the gym since my treadmill is broke!
   
2. Run 5k twice per week (or more) once done the program–almost ready!
   
3. Lose 10 lbs — starting weight 168 lbs–I did it! 11 lbs as of this morning! weight= 157. 

Now that my treadmill is broken, I will have to find the time to make the 40 min trek one way into the city to the gym as many times in the week that I can afford the gas and time. I is going to suck as I really like the convience of having my workout equipment right there to do my workouts when I have the energy. I talked to the service tech today about my treadmill and he believes it is actually the belt (not moving properly) that is making the motor work to hard. In that case, the belt will need to be replaced, a $300 bill on top of the $100 service call charge. So my motor if ruined, will not be covered under warranty as it is my fault for not waxing my deck to keep the belt moving smoothly. Hopefully, the motor is okay. I need to make an appointment for next week.

I have spent most of the day pouting!

Good luck everyone on your challenges for the next 20 days. Do your best, work hard, you can do it!

Each week I will set weekly goals that I will try to achieve for that week which will in the long term help me to reach my Hot 100 challenge goals. You can find each weeks new weekly goals on Mondays on the main page. Also, every 10 days there is a Hot 100 check in which we let everyone know how we are doing in the challenge so far.

To find out more about the “Hot 100–going out with a bang!” challenge (sign up deadline is closed), visit Steve at www.logmyloss.com.

Bad news!

Aaaauuurrggg!!! My treadmill burned out!

Yesterday during my run, the motor of my treadmill started to smell horribly of burning electrical. The belt then succeeded to stop and start, throwing me into the console. What a shock! I took the cover off to take a look and the motor was too hot to even touch.

Thinking back, I bought my treadmill at least 4 years ago, probably more. I do know that the warranty and in home service calls are over now. I do have, according to the stickers on my treadmill, 25 year motor and drivetrain warranty. So this morning I will have to call up the store where I bought it and see what I have to do. I no longer know where the receipt is so I hope they have it on record somewhere. It is really going to suck having to pack that mega heavy this into my jeep to take it into the city. And how long till it’s fixed? I finally, finally, after a year, got myself back to where I can run 4 miles no problem. I really don’t want to lose that while I wait forever for my treadmill back.

I guess the 40 min trek to the gym will be happening. I just fear those slippery highways to the city though. By the way, it was my C25K week 9, day 2 that I finished while, doing a 4 mile run. I guess day 3 will be at the gym. The problem with treking all the way to the gym is that by time I get there after 40 mins, I am too tired to do the workout! I really dislike that drive. And my workweeks don’t leave me time to go to the gym after work. Man, what to do! I wonder if my store has loaner treadmills. ????

Wish me luck that I will have no problems getting my treadmill covered under the motor warranty and that I get it back in record time!

I think the push was what I needed.

Yipey!! Yesterday the scale weighed me in at 157.6!! Finally past that 159-163 slump I have yo-yo’d in since the end of Oct. That makes it an official 10 lbs lost since I started the Hot 100 challenge over at Log my loss. So hopefully I am in the 150 for good now. It will be nice if I can get some more down but, we’ll see what happens.

So, I think it was the pushing myself to do the 26.2 miles for the 265 and falling marathon week challenge that finally pushed me past my slump. Plus, there is the added benefit of not being so worn out after work each day this week. I have had extra energy so far each day which has definitely helped with production. For sure I definately ran a lot more and longer than I was used to. It was actually nice and I feel great, tired but great after having finished it. Hope you come up with another one Steve!

weekly goal and exercise DOES make a difference!

Okay, here is an update on my weekly goals in the Hot 100–going out with a bang! challenge.

My goals for last week were:

1. drink 8 glasses of water daily. – check!
2. finish week 8 of C25K. – double check!
3. do at least 2 sessions of yoga. – nope.
4. eat lots of veggies. – check! even tried shredded, sauteed brussel sprouts. Delish!
5. loss 1 more lb to make it 10 lost total so far. – nope. stuborn!
6. get through the week and especially the weekend without any junk food! – Check, check!
7. try a new vegetable or fruit. – check! I tried frozen cranberries. Not to bad in a smoothie

And for some personal goals not related to weight loss:

1. update my web store with more products – no
2. start designing a site I want to get up by spring. –have ideas in head. just need to put them on paper first.
3. finish my Christmas shopping – I’ll be lucky if I get it done before next Christmas rolls around!
4. put up my tree! – yippy! it’s up!

My goals for this week are just going to stay the same as last week:

1. drink 8 glasses of water daily.
2. finish week 8 of C25K.
3. do at least 2 sessions of yoga.
4. eat lots of veggies.
5. loss 1 more lb to make it 10 lost total so far.
6. get through the week and especially the weekend without any junk food!
7. try a new vegetable or fruit.

I also want to mention that I believe my pushing myself a bit this week for the marathon week challenge I joined, plus, keeping up with my workouts regularly, has help greatly at work. Today was a very heavy physical work load day for me and I am NOT exhausted today after work like usual. I still have energy to burn so, I will take my youngest into the city tonight to get her some winter boots and hopefully won’t be too long so I can get in a couple of miles towards the challenge. It ends on wednesday and I have just about 6 miles to do to make the goal.

Bye for now!