Leave of Absence

I'm not sure how many people actually READ my blog anymore, especially since I haven't posted regularly in a looooooong time, but that's okay. This blog is not completely dead!

Weight loss was going really well for a while, and then in June I found out I was pregnant (again)!! Sigh. It seems every time I get a really good thing going with my weight loss, I get pregnant. Haha. It was somewhat planned--since it took so long to get pregnant the first time, we decided this time that we wouldn't actively prevent pregnancy--but I wasn't going to try tracking my cycles or anything yet either. So my period finally returned when Karinne was 9 months old, and I got pregnant after 1 cycle! HA!

I'm due mid-February and I'm currently 27 weeks pregnant--HELLLOOOOO third trimester! I'm gaining weight like it's going out of style--I've already gained twice as much as I did with Karinne, and I've still got 3 months to go (I've gained about 25 pounds so far)! I'm trying not to stress about it too much, but it's difficult. I'm also not watching what I eat very carefully either, soooo I can really only blame myself.

It's a boy, and we've pretty much settled on his name. Some days I really can't believe we're gonna have another kid in the house in just a few months!

Karinne is now 15 months old. She just started walking over the last couple of weeks and it's definitely crazy around our house! She's not talking *that* much yet, but I'm sure that will change soon enough. I can't believe how she's grown!

No pictures because this was a spur-of-the-moment post and I'm too lazy to upload them. Take care!

Scales are evil tricksters.

Okay, confession time: 

I'm a scale whore.

There, I wrote it for all to read. I'm a slave to my scale. I weigh myself every single day, usually multiple times. I weigh myself as soon as wake up, after I pee, right before my shower, right after my shower, and randomly throughout the day if the urge hits. I like to see how my weight fluctuates. Through all of this, I've learned that my lowest weight is around 10am--I have NO idea why (I bet I could google that). 

So I've used my WW scale for YEARS, but I wasn't confident of its accuracy anymore once I could step on it several times in a row and get a different weight every time. I decided to buy a new scale, and I LOVE it. 

However. 

My new scale weighs me 2-3 pounds heavier than my old WW scale--which is fine, I'd rather get accurate readings! Well, this has lead to a new obsession...

When I get a new low weight on the new scale, I check the WW scale too. I need to get rid of it. 

I thought of this because this morning I weighed 231.6, which put me at 228.7 on the WW scale. My ticker shows 230.5--I can't wait until I lose a couple more pounds and can update it for real. 

Anyway. That's all. 

Halfway There

I want you all to notice my weight loss ticker up there--I'm EXACTLY halfway to goal. As incredible as that is, there's a part of me that's like, "OMG. You're only halfway there." Then the other part of me chimes in, "No, you're already halfway there." I'd like to think that losing the second half won't take near as long as the first half did, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I have to keep reminding myself--this isn't a race! However long it takes is a million times better than never getting there simply because I never changed anything. 

I ate like crap this weekend--I was well under my calorie goal for each day (not necessarily a good thing) but I definitely ate more "bad" calories than "good" calories. I'll just say this--my stomach does NOT like it when I eat crap food! Gah. Biggest Loser at work ends this week; my partner and I have done well, but I don't think we can win. We get these pesky things called periods, and the team that's in the lead apparently never gets them. Le sigh.

I feel like I've come so far over the last few months. I'm happy where I'm at, mentally. I also think I'm ready for another fill--I feel like I'm hungry way too quickly these days. I guess I need to actually schedule the appointment rather than just talk about it, huh? :) 

Nine Months Already??

Long time no chat! I've been absent for a while, but for once it's not because I'm not losing weight! I've just been busy and preoccupied.

I think the last time I posted, I was just starting the weight loss challenge at my gym, as well as the Biggest Loser challenge at work. I was in first place at the gym for most of the challenge, until someone who hadn't done any of the weekly weigh-ins decided to finally weigh in and had lost 16-freakin'-percent of their weight---CRAZY. I "only" lost 7 or 8%. Oh well. They haven't posted the final results yet, but I hope I at least got 2nd or 3rd. We'll see.

The Biggest Loser challenge at work is going pretty well too. Since I started losing weight about a month before the challenge, I was at a slight disadvantage--but slow and steady wins, right? I'm really excited though to see so many embracing this challenge; I get all warm and fuzzy inside thinking about how so many people have changed their habits (though, the real test will be to see who actually maintains their losses once this is over).

Karinne is NINE MONTHS OLD today! She's officially been out of my womb for as long as she was in it. I can't believe what a little person she's become! I'm learning that she is very dramatic--if she's sitting on the floor and starts crying, she immediately folds in half and smacks her forehead on the floor. Marc and I can't help but laugh every time she does that. She's crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything--it's just a matter of time before she's walking! I've also started planning her first birthday party. I'm going to try my best to do everything myself--I've just got to dig out my inner crafty person. I'll try to post pictures of my progress. I know it's going to be a polka dot party, with bright pink and orange as the main colors. I want to have iced sugar cookies in the shape of a "1" as favors, and I was hoping to at least buy those already made. However, everyone I've contacted wants $20-$30 for a dozen, and I need about 3-4 dozen. I can't justify spending that much money on COOKIES. So, it looks like I'm making those myself too!

Overall, weight loss is going well. I've lost more than 30 pounds since the beginning of March and it feels fantastic! I've been exercising 4-5 days per week and just watching my calories using My Fitness Pal. I would love another small fill, because I'm definitely hungry between meals--but honestly, I don't want to spend the $100 right now. If it gets to the point that I'm just not losing and I'm miserable, I'll go, but for now--I'm good.

Still going...

It's been a couple of weeks, I know. BUT! I'm still on the wagon! Since I got back on the wagon on February 28th, I've lost about 16 pounds. I think you all understand just how good that feels. My clothes are feeling good again (they were all getting a bit snug!) and I just feel better. I've been tracking my food everyday, and that's been a huge help. Yeah, sometimes it's a pain to figure out the calories when I ate 2 potato chips, but I gotta do it--otherwise, my "two bites here and a small piece there" will add up and I won't even realize it.

I'm in first place for my gym's weight loss challenge--I kind can't really believe it. The 2nd place person is right behind me though; at last week's weigh in, I'd lost 5.15% and they'd lost 5.1%. I'll take it though! The Biggest Loser challenge at work started yesterday--wish me luck on that one! Either way, I'm going to lose weight, and I feel like I've already made some really positive changes in my eating and exercise habits, so it's all good. I swear, I feel like a brand-new bandster sometimes; though, I guess I kind of am since being pregnant and having a newborn knocked me out for a while.

I feel like I'm never able to write proper updates, and I want to. This blogger community has helped me so much in getting my mojo back, I feel like I owe it to you! Thank you all for your support!

Biggest Loser at Work!

I decided to start a "Biggest Loser" competition at work. Several people are trying/wanting to lose weight, so I thought this would be the perfect way to encourage each other and help each other out. I've enlisted the help of a couple of people, but I've basically been given free reign--I'm a little nervous, but I'm confident that it will be AWESOME!

Now, I would LOVE to get some help from you guys as well. I want to give little kickoff packages to everyone who participates. I was thinking about a (nice) water bottle, a pedometer, and.... something else. However, I can't think of anything to be that "something else". Oh, and I also picked up a bunch of guest passes from my gym (there's a location like 3 minutes from the office) to give out. Do you have any other ideas? Also, what a good water bottle that I could include?

We are also going to give out weekly prizes to the team that loses the most that week (the competition will be 8 weeks long); I have some casual day and 30-minute break cards, but what are some other smaller prizes that we could give?

We are also going to give out individual prizes at the very end, to the person who loses the most weight and the person who loses the most inches. Any ideas for those prizes?

Everyone who participates will pay $20, and this will be the prize pot. The winning team at the end will get all the cash.

I really am super excited about this. I wanted something to look forward to after my weight loss challenge at the gym is over! I would love to hear any and all ideas you have to help make this competition a success---you guys are awesome!

It's Friday - BYOC!

1.  How do you feel about college?  If you have kids or siblings - will you encourage or require them to go?  How long did you go and what for?  
I love college. I think everyone should go. However, I do understand that it's not for everyone; I will most definitely encourage my children to go, but I won't make it a requirement. 


2.  Pink or purple?  Coke or Pepsi?  Pen or pencil?  Cursive or printing?  Ketchup or mustard?
Purple. Coke (diet). Pen. Cursive AND print (I use a mix). Ketchup (though I do love mixing the two). 


3.  If you could live in any generation - which one would it be?
The 50's/60's. I imagine that people had more class then. I also love the clothes and the hair. And it would be awesome to have stories to tell of those drastically changing times.


4.  What do you sleep in?
A tank top and pj pants/capris


5.  Repeat question - summarize your week!
Let's see... came back from Texas, worked 3 days, worked on starting up a biggest loser competition at work. All in all, it was a pretty good week!