Just in case I’m MIA next week, I wanted to let you know what’s going on around here. One of my closest friends will bury her husband on Friday afternoon. I will be unable to attend, but will be taking the time to observe in my own way, which will most likely not be on Twitter. Around the same time my  husband will return home. If you are out of the loop, he’s been working in Iowa for the past 6 months, and has chosen to come home and stay home for a while. My friend’s loss just really sealed this up for the both of us. I’m praying that he will find a job locally soon.

On a brighter note Sunday will be our first wedding anniversary. My husband, the kids and I will be getting all dolled up like we did last year, plus some, and head back to the lake for wedding pictures. Um yeah…its taken us a year to get back to finish our pictures since my wedding was very rushed and pictures were not finished that day because my husband was involved in a car fire the night before. Every girl wants to get dressed in her wedding gown again, and I can!!

The cool part of this, is that just yesterday I tried my gown on, and guess what?!!! It looks better this year than last! I look better! Of course the stress of being in the ER with my husband and trying to sleep a few hours with him writhing in pain didn’t have me looking all that great. Not to mention that I was an hour late, and a LOT of other things just went terribly wrong. But this year, we will have great pictures done! I can’t wait on that part. My dress is actually a couple inches too long, just from loosing belly fat! I must say its pretty cool!

This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by Fit Studio.  One blogging carnival participant will receive a Fitness Basket with Weider PowerSwitch Adjustable 25 lb. Hand Weight, 65 cm Fitness Ball, and Sportline Elite Fitness Pedometer..

Question: What time of day works best for you to be active?  How do you make sure you stick to those planned workouts?

I have 2 times that are best for me: early morning and somewhere in the 4-6pm area. I love those times of the day better than any other times, and if I miss them its really hard for me to feel up to doing anything. So when I plan something for the morning and I get sidetracked, I try to make it up in the afternoon/evening before it gets too late. For the afternoon days, I try to have leftovers or something going in the crockpot so that I won’t cook some big elaborate meal instead of working out.

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• Learn how to avoid Weight Watchers, Mamavation and other weightloss motivators!
• Become un-Sexy by joining your spouse in a couch potato marathon.
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I used to be a runner, but now I’m a couch potato marathon award winner! I have sat through 3 movie marathons in a weekend, within the first 3 months of using the “Guide to un-Healthy Living!!” – Potato King in Arizona.

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I can’t believe its week 7 for this campaign. The ladies have really stepped up to the plate this time. I’m so proud of each and every one of you!

This past week went much better for me. I ate at home more, and drank a lot more water. My activity level is still down, but a nice sinus infection has helped with that.

Stress always makes me sick! The pollen doesn’t help any, but next year I’m gonna kick pollen’s butt! lol

Today (Wednesday) I’m being interviewed, so next week hopefully I can link you up to the podcast. I’m getting excited (and trying not to cough).

Question: How do you encourage your children to contribute to your family’s healthy lifestyle?

My kids are encouraged to run and play during daylight hours OUTSIDE, and they also help plant vegetables not only at home, but with other family members. They love to eat what they grow, and its a great way for them to get involved with cooking and making great choices.

“This post is sponsored by Mamavation and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway.”

Yep, I have been MIA for a couple weeks. I was gone for a week, and then its just been terribly stressful since I’ve been home. I’m going to make this short and sweet because I have so many things waiting on me.

Stress has been getting the best of me lately, but I’ve managed to enjoy some time outside. I still do not have a working bathroom scale, but will try to get one this week.

I have a goal to have more toned arms in the next Month…well at least by March 20th! We are having pictures done, and I’ll be wearing a sleeveless dress for parts of them.

I’ll be researching how to tone my flabby arms and see how things go. Do you have any tips?

BLOGGING CARNIVAL: This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by Fit Studio.  One blogging carnival participant will receive a Fitness Basket with Weider PowerSwitch Adjustable 25 lb. Hand Weight, 65 cm Fitness Ball, and Sportline Elite Fitness Pedometer..

Question: What motivates you to get going and what keeps you going?

The way I feel is horrible when I don’t eat right, or workout. So that’s my big motivator. I know that its very important to do both of these when stress hits, but I’ve failed a lot of recent days. My biggest helper right now is that I’m having a Larabar for breakfast every day. It seems to have helped. (and yay! I found them locally!)

Anyways, I’ll get more into the groove soon! Bye!

Overall last week was a good week for me. I drank more water, ate more veggies, and really increased my fiber! I’m very proud of myself. I also took a lot more spur of the moment walks.

Tonight (Monday) I am getting another ear infection, possibly two. I’ll see the dr in the morning. I am supposed to be driving up to see my husband on Thursday, so I hope that doesn’t put a damper on things, that and the winter storm about to roll through.

I’m planning snacks and meals for the 14+ hour trip, and taking workout dvds. I’m looking forward to the treadmill at the hotel also.

I have no idea if I’ve lost weight or not, when I went to check on that today the battery in the bathroom scale was dead. I’m gonna try to pick one up after the doctors appointment tomorrow and get my picture up.

Insert Picture Here

I am very excited to announce that the top I wore out to eat with my husband over Thanksgiving holidays is now too big for me to wear! I”m so excited (even if I really liked the top!) to be losing inches!

To me wellness is about being more healthy, striving to be more healthy with fewer colds and more energy.

Last week was just the pits! I would love to have the hazing again! I ended up hurting my back, eating fried chicken and being so hormonal the last part of the week I’m afraid to step on the scale.

I had such great intentions! Ughh!

So today starts a new week, my attitude must change this week. I pray that my body cooperates.

Goals for the week:

• Go to bed at a decent time. (ie, somewhere in the 10pm range)
• As soon as the kids walk out the door, eat breakfast and get some movement logged.
• Log all of my steps, exercise and food.

That really says 208.5

That’s another half pound loss this week, I’m happy since I thought I may have gained.  That’s a grand total of 11lbs lost since I joined Mamavation! Woohoo!

Question: How are you getting more fiber in your diet this New Year?

I’m certainly eating more veggies and whole grains!

“I’m writing this post as an entry to a blogging carnival sponsored by Fiber Plus. I will be receiving free product in return.

This week is THAT week. In fact today is THAT day! Its where we find out who the next 2 Mamavation Moms will be. I’m one of the 12 finalist, and have really tried not to let it stress me out.

This past week has been full of hazing (yay for learning what a plank is! ) and this week starts Mamavation Mom Campaign 7 and the Move it Lose it campaign for the finalist that did not make it. So either way, I have a full 7 weeks ahead of me.

I want to thank everyone for their support. I have numerous family members and friends that have helped me tremendously with my campaign. Y’all keep me going! I’m not gonna stop here, no ma’am!

My son got to take pictures of me while we were out on our walk today, this is for me to look back after 7 weeks and see how my body really changed.

Current Weight: 209.0

That’s down 10 lbs since I joined the Mamavation Sistahood in the Fall!

These are my current measurements:

• waist- 46
• r arm – 17
• l arm – 16
• r -thigh – 30.5
• l thigh – 30.5
• r calf – 17
• l calf 17
• hips: 54
• bra band/chest: 38
• bust: 44

Christi has encouraged me to pledge to Mamavation.  And I am going to follow her suggestion!

I constantly have a lot going on in my house full of special needs and I get so consumed with caring for everyone I forget I need to take care of me before I can’t take care of them.  So while I have been watching what I eat for the most part and doing some exercise it is time to bump things up to the next level.

Last week I weighed in at 243 (YIKES).  I so just admitted that.  It puts me at a BMI of 40.43, this puts me in the morbidly obese category.  I am not thrilled with that so I am setting my first goal to be under a 40 BMI which would put me in the obese category.  Not a great place to be but getting rid of the “morbid” makes me feel a little better.  I am aiming for the first week of February to be rid of the morbid label.

Later this week my treadmill will arrive.  I know that having it around and using it daily will give me both a stress outlet and some confidence in myself.  I am also praying  real hard that Christi makes it as a Mamavation Mom when the announcement comes out tonight.  I hope to join in her journey!

This week I am going to work hard on drinking my water.  I go in spurts with water sometimes drinking a lot and more often drinking very little.  I have a large 32 oz cup that I commit to filling twice a day and drinking it down.

So there you have it my pledge to change the lives of my family by changing myself.

I decided to wait on my Mamavation Monday post until the finalists were announced. So at midnight on the east coast, I found out that I am a finalist! I’m soo thankful, excited and even a bit nervous!

The hazing has really gotten me into moving a lot more than I was. Well, better than I was during the flu episode. The coughing is nearly over, only coughed with jumping jacks yesterday.

So last night I don’t know which was bigger news to me, being a finalist or finding out that I have 10 weeks until my husband will be home for a week. It will be our anniversary week, and he is cooking up something special. Our honeymoon was spent in the burn unit, so we want to do something special this go round.

We do want to do a weekend together between now and then, and if we don’t get to do that I’m not sure how well we will make it. It’s getting super hard to be apart.

So back on track here, I have some goals for this week:

• Get at least 60 oz of water in a day, before juice and anything else.
• 12k steps a day
• Start back at day 1 on EAS Active 2
• Get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep
• Campaign for Mamavation

Question of the week:

Have you ever been injured starting a new exercise routine? Tell us about it…If not, do you get any aches and pains? Where?

This morning I have a lot of aches and pains from walking without having the right shoes on. Seriously, I know better! I almost twisted my knee last night, and my hips are not feeling great at all. So, yeah I’ll be digging out those super expensive, ugly walking shoes for my walks until my hips are doing better.  If your feet are in alignment, the rest of your body will be too! Make sure you are wearing the best shoes!

Don’t forget to get your votes in this week! I appreciate all of your support and hope that you vote for me @ChristiDarty!

This blogging carnival is sponsored by Salonpas.

I have found in the past that walking is my ideal weight loss booster.  Since my treadmill is broken and it is icy outside I chose to pick up some of my older Walk Away the Pounds DVDs.  They really are great for a beginner who is out of shape and looking for a way to get started exercising.  But they are also fantastic for a quick workout for a more experienced exerciser.

I started last week with the Walk Away the Pounds 2-Pack: Super Fat Burning + Get Up and Get Started High Calorie Burn using the 2 mile section.  During the two miles you can use two 2lb weighted balls for part of the workout.  This really adds some burn and in just a weeks time I can feel some added strength in my shoulders. 

Considering  I had major surgery on my left shoulder a couple years ago this feels like a major accomplishment to me.  My shoulder is still weak and for the first couple of days I considered amputation but towards the end of the week it didn’t ache so much anymore.  I guess that is a good example of why to stick through the minor aches and discomfort.  I am not suggesting you work through major pain because you may have an injury that needs medical attention.

This morning I thought I would change it up a bit and grab another DVD.  I could have moved up to the three mile workout but thought I would have some fun with a quicker pace so I chose the Leslie Sansone Walk Slim: Fast and Firm 4 Really Big Miles.  No I didn’t jump all the way to a four mile walk. Lucky for me this DVD is sectioned into 1 mile segments.  I stuck with the two mile length because this DVD is at a much quicker pace.  I felt my breath a little shorter than last week but I think it was great to get my heart rate going.

I look forward to purchasing more DVDs fromLeslie Sansone’s Walk Away The Pounds series.  I know she has several to choose from so if neither of the two I have listed looks right for you make sure to browse around the others when you follow the links provided.

There are no more excuses.  You can walk right in your livingroom, bedroom or wherever your television is located.  You need nothing special just your feet and arms.  However, if you are up to the challenge Leslie adds in weights, resistence bands and more depending on the workout.