Response to Trisha...

Stephanie here, and I wanted to give my two bits on your subject:
Here we are at a milestone, indeed! Now I am curious where we are going to go with our blog from here, as certainly our challenge has changed quite a bit. We both face our own personal battles with the scale, with an entirely different focus for each of us. Do we keep blogging here? Do we keep blogging about the same topics? Is this blog growing and changing and morphing into something new? Or, fading?


What are your feelings, Stephanie?

You know, I have been thinking and I think we have learned a lot about ourselves through this challenge/blog.  I almost feel like it is fading.  I think we are at different places, good places, but different.  We really aren't "challenging" each other anymore, in fact the real challenge is within ourselves and I think we are both winners there! :) So I will let you decide if you want to still keep this going.  I kinda don't want to let go yet, but I feel that we have grown to something different now...

100th POST! How cool is that?!

--Trisha

Here we are at a milestone, indeed! Now I am curious where we are going to go with our blog from here, as certainly our challenge has changed quite a bit. We both face our own personal battles with the scale, with an entirely different focus for each of us. Do we keep blogging here? Do we keep blogging about the same topics? Is this blog growing and changing and morphing into something new? Or, fading?

What are your feelings, Stephanie?

A journey, for sure!

Stephanie,
Thank you for having the courage to share your condition. I just wanted to say a few things about this challenge. I truly believe it's grown to mean so much more than just a challenge to each of us. I feel like it has pushed your struggle to the surface, and now you are able to focus on healing. And, holy smokes, you have been exercising for 3 1/2 months now!! So many benefits there, as well as where would you be physically right now without it?

I believe that this challenge, which has really turned more into a motivational blog between two unlikely people, has definitely made things better between us! Our entire readership does not know of our recent stress between our two households, but I believe that it healed much more quickly than it would have back in the day.

The bottom line is that neither one of us wanted to give up on all the progress we have made, in large part due to this blog!!! Is everything perfect? Of course not, but I feel like we can see things differently now, and that through this blog, we haven't just viewed one another based on our roles in a little one's life! Rather we see each other as women, as real people!

I look forward to seeing where our journey continues to take us :)

The challenge results/weigh in for Stephanie

Oh the mock 5K, how you tried my every muscle, my every minute of the run.  I look forward to redoing this!!!  The weather sucked but I did it!  My muscles got tense and rock hard but I finished!  I have to say it was really hard for me.  I didn't have the positive feeling that I sense Trisha had! :) I blogged about it on my other blog.  And I can't sugar coat it, I am a hurting unit!  My knee cap hurts on my right leg, the tops of my feet are sore, like the bones are sore.  It doesn't seem like I have been doing the C25K program, I feel like I just ran for the very first time.  And while I ran I felt so tense which made it hard to jog! I did it in 45 minutes...yes, I boned it.

But I have a plan...I now know what NOT to do before the race!  I am pretty sure the winds won't be so bad.  (I got stuck in a dirt storm yesterday!) I know that I won't be eating a breakfast before, but just some toast and a banana.  I know that I will stretch a heck of a lot more!!! 

I did an endurance workout at lunchtime today...I wrote about it (with a pic!)  It felt good!  And I did this 3 mile walk in 45 minutes!!  HELLO, can anyway say "kick in gear Stephanie"?  This walk is 2 huge hills!!!! 

I am not feeling good about myself the last few days.  I think it is time to do measurements and see where I am with those.  Cause the scale...well the scale just isn't helping me!  It said I was up .4 lb.  But it is TOM but I just don't want to use that as an excuse.  I am going to buckle down this week and see what happens.  I feel like a broken record...saying I am going to do this two pound loss thing but it never happens. 

BUT...I am wearing a pair of jeans I couldn't wear a month ago! :) 

Last week: 184.6
This week: 185
Gain of: .4 

Check off the challenge!

--Trisha
I rocked the 5K challenge!! Check it all out here on my blog.  I am so excited for next Saturday's race :)

I can't wait to weigh-in tomorrow...I have been working hard on the eating end of things, so I hope to see something special for my efforts!

I feel like I need to do my measurements again, as I am wearing all smaller sizes now. And, I don't remember the last time I did my measurements. I will have to check it out!

You know, counting tomorrow's we have 15 weigh-ins left until the new year!! How cool is that?!

Our physical challenge for this weekend:

We are going to jog/walk a 5K outside and time it. This will be a great point of reference for when we do the Autumn Leaf 5K a week from this Saturday! I have only ever walked this race for the past  5 years with my cheer squad. This year we are all jogging it J

I am going to jog/walk and time the actual course, as it’s right by where I work, and I have a few things that I need to do this weekend in my classroom.  Stephanie is going to use Google pedometer and map out a road course where she lives!

I haven't fallen off the face of the planet...yet!

Hello! I am still alive and KICKING :) You can see just how muy ocupado (VERY BUSY) my life has been this past couple of weeks on my other blog that I finally updated.

As for the challenge this week...I highly doubt I will make it happen, as it means I will be up at 4 a.m. because of meetings and other obligations I have in the morning. Next week, however, NO problem! I do have two challenges for myself next week. 1) I am going to exercise at least three times in the morning, and 2) I am going to write everything down that I eat and blog about it on my other blog (I know boring...). I have been doing a good job of eating and squeezing exercise in (YEAH for Zumba yesterday!), but I am ready to fine tune some things now that life will be on some sort of normal schedule.

This weekend, I plan on walking 13 miles at one time, and timing myself. That will be my intense exercise challenge for me :)))

I am keeping water going, and it hasn't been hard, and really it's more of a habit now :)))

It's been awesome that people are noticing that I am losing weight. I have had several people tell me so this past couple of weeks, and it's such an upper!!

I need to upload new pics and also do my measurements sometime soon!!

Stephanie's weigh in

So I got up this morning and hopped on the scale.  We all know that I have had a challenge lately of losing even with all my changes and stuff. 

last week: 186.8
This week: 185.6
Loss of: 1.2 

I was hoping for more cause I was really careful at fair and to not have the bad foods.  Although I did have a 7-up and that was the first soda I have had in so long!!  I must say it was YUMMY and refreshing in the heat of the day.  :) 

So I have signed up for the 5K Autumn Leaf Run on October 1st.  I have a challenge with myself and blogged about it here.

Also I have suggestion on a challenge this week for a challenge.  Trisha, I had read a posty in my gift bag that you wanted to get back to working out in the mornings?  That is what I want to do too so that anything else is extra!!!  And to help me train for this 5K.  So how about this week we try to workout 3 mornings? It can be for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, hour, whatever just as long as we are up and getting our health on!!!  It can be stretching, yoga, cardio, whatever gets us going.  Just to start the habit. 

I did 30 minutes this morning of week 2 day 3 of the C25K program.  Baby boy was playing and talking to me!!!  It was cute! I am proud of myself for getting it done considering lunchtime temps are to be high 90's and I know I won't get as much done after work cause it just doesn't fit my schedule. 

So now a new week, yep Trisha, a clean slate!!! :)  That is what Monday's are for, a fresh start!!! :)  Good job at fair!!! 

Finally, I am posting!

Oh what a crazy time it has been!!!  Spent a couple days at the hospital with my dad and step mom and my aunt.  It was crazy stressful and emotional!  But it also meant I slacked on exercise...and it showed.  I had a gain of a 1.8 so that means I am back up to 186.8.  It really sucked seeing that gain, but I am not letting it bring me down!  I made some yummy applesauce cake that is like 64 calories per square!!  And I didn't add the chocolate chips, so I am proud of me! It is really yummy and the hubby liked it too...I put it in my daughters school lunch so the jury is still out on that one! And for once, the gain doesn't depress me or make me want to call it quits.  I am going to go forward and continue making good choices!! 

One thing that has helped is the rockin gift I got from Trisha from last weeks challenge!!!  I got a cool tote filled with goodies like a huge bottle of SmartWater, yummy gum, a rocking Weight Watchers magazine and some good smellin, aromatherapy candles!  THANK YOU!!!! I loved it!  I really liked all the sticky notes! LOL!  I do think you have a good idea, Trisha, about the magazine swap! 

So I am moving onward!!!  :)  I will see a loss darn it!!! 

weigh in and challenge results for Stephanie

CONGRATS TRISHA!!! We both accomplished our challenge and it ROCKED!  I have your prize already so I just have to get it to you!  :) 

This challenge was tough.  I didn't think I had enough energy to do it but I did!  I barely have enough energy to do what I do everyday with the little sleep I get, actually the interruptions in sleep that I get! :)  But I did it and I loved it!  It makes me want to do this at least once a month too!  I can't wait for the weather to cool off a bit so I can make more of my lunch hour exercise.  Right now, I get dizzy and too hot to do too much.  Don't want heat stroke! LOL! 

Weigh in results:
Last week: 186
This week: 185.5

1/2 lb loss...not the best but I will take it.  I think that we are gaining a bit more muscle which maybe is slowing down the number on the scales????  Or is that just a justification and we really just need to work harder?  But really we need to remember to live life too and be happy.  We are healthier than we ever have been and I am so proud of us!!!  We need to be able to have a little slice of cake and some ice cream or pasta salad or a small candy bar every so often. They don't consume our lives anymore they are actually just treats now! ;)   

Recap of the last few days and what the scale said this morning!

--Trisha
To see exactly how I did on this week's challenge, check out my other blog!! I am super happy with the results of this weekend!! This was the recharge I needed, as I was feeling like the motivation flame was fanning a little :) And, I am proud of both of us for mastering our weekend challenge. Now, I am excited to find the perfect reward to give to Stephanie :))))

Now for the weigh-in...not so good news.
Last week: 223
This week: 224 Gain of +1 pound. This is my first gain :(

But, oddly enough, I am not all broken-hearted about it. It could be TOM (that's never regular, but if it were, it would be coming right now), and I know that I didn't make the best choices eating this last week. I thoroughly enjoyed my homemade pasta salad (my mama's recipe), and more of it than I knew I should. I also ate some yummy cherry chocolate cupcakes at the cheer sleepover. Truly, I am not sweating the small stuff. I know next week will be better!

As well, just yesterday I saw a co-worker who I have not seen since the last day of school, and she commented on my loss! YEAH, first person to do so :))) That was a major pick-me-up!!

I am working hard on my plan for this week--first week back to school. I will blog about it later. I am excited for school to start, and I know I will be successful with my health goals.

P.S. My calves hurt the most today...they feel like they are hard as a rock and not moving, LOL! But, I would totally do they exact same workout again. As a matter of fact, I think I might do it once a month, and see if my times change.

Check it out!

I kicked the physical challenge's butt this week! I am SOOOO glad we had it, or I would have never done what I did!!!! I feel so awesome :))

Check it out right here!!!

I know today doesn't count towards the challenge, but HOLY smokes, I rocked the OK Hill today. I admit it was a bit scary coming down. I was AlMoSt tempted to walk around on the road and back down, LOL!

It did make me want to hike more. Not just my normal walk up and down the HUGE Robinson Canyon road, but actually hike up in the mountains, like I used to all the time in Leavenworth  :)) That's something I am going to have to add to my activity list of things to do.

Love the hour intense exercise for both days...and, that it can be busted up into 30 minutes segments. Yahoo, on the water!!

I also love the idea of doing a $5 healthy gift for one another for making our challenges!! I like it being something besides coffee (though, I think we should go for coffee on our two month anniversary of our challenge!!). Let's find out a little about one another, and figure out something that we get...

Please let me know the following (and, I will share my answers, too):  Stephanie's answers in red!!! ;)
Favorite color: purple Red :)
Favorite season: summer  fall
Favorite fruit: watermelon strawberry
Favorite symbol: nautical star, American flag, horseshoe, infinity sign Texas Star, horeshoe, my family brand :)
What do you collect? water bottles, coffee cups, postcards, magnets, candles, ummmmm and a few more things, LOL! Probably why I have too much clutter! I don't really collect anything anymore, recipe books maybe! :) I do like stars tho and have a bunch of those.
Favorite domesticated animal: horse, though I LOVE MELVIN our fish :) horse, dogs, cats
Favorite wild animal: meerkat or dolphin coyotes so i can hunt them! ;)
Favorite coffehouse: UGH...couldn't say. Just wrote a blog on this!! I don't spluge on coffee very much anymore but if I go to get one I would say the Country Cabin has never done me wrong.
Favorite thing on your work desk BESIDES pictures: A New York City coffee mug that a special person gave me :) my water bottle! LOL! and my sharpie pen (not the marker)...ohhhh that could be something i collect!!!  I LOVE the sharpie pens!!! 
Favorite hobby(ies): writing, reading, riding the motorcycle crafts!!! i Love to do craft swaps on my favorite website and I love to make my lariat rope baskets.  Cooking and baking, reading and writing, riding horses, going to rodeos and horse sales, going shooting and hunting coyotes!!! 

that was fun!!!  :) 

I'll take that challenge!

Game on Trisha!!  Good idea!  Something to mix it up!!  Something intense!!! 

What about if we do an hour a day of intense exercise???  It doesn't have to be at one time but at least a 1/2 hour at a time?? 

And yes WATER!!!  125 oz sounds good to me! 

A cleansing of the soul...I need this badly!  So much is going on and about to go on that is stressful and sad and I need some good endorphins running through my body!  I feel good when I exercise and I need to remember that and stick to it.  Perfect timing for this idea Trisha!!! 

As for the prize...what about our favorite "the coffee card"!!!  :)  Or what about we spend 5-10 bucks on each other in anyway we want as long as we keep it healthy?? 

I think we need...

A WEEKEND CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!!!

When I go back and read the posts (all 47 of them), I see a difference in motivation, perhaps it's just a perception, but...

What say you Miss Stephanie?

125 ounces of water for Saturday AND Sunday
Some sort of intense exercise??? How long?

Shall we have a reward? If we both do it, we both get the reward, if not, then only one of us gets the reward from the other one?

Been a good week! Let's see how next week goes...

--Trisha

We are headed out on our week-long motorcycle vacation tomorrow morning BRIGHT and early, so I will post my weight, but that will be about it for the week. I am a little nervous about eating and exercising on this vacation, but I have the tools and skills to make the right choices :) I will journal everything and then come back and blog about it when we return.

I am not proposing a challenge for this week, as for me, being away for eight days and trying to keep to the program will potentially be a HUGE challenge.

You can see how this past week has been over at my other blog.

What about??

I think it would be really fun, depending on our fitness levels, to have a physical challenge that we both do together at the same time. Maybe it's 10 sets of bleachers or hiking up a huge hill (like up at the Loup Loup), or...

We could set a date when we are going to do it, and then have some time to train, and then do it! It's kinda like a Biggest Loser challenge.

Any ideas? What do you think?

Stephanie here...

I think that is a terrific idea! But for some reason I am a bit hesitant and I think it is only because so far my exercise has only been done with just me! And because today I am functioning on about 3 hours sleep (baby issues) and 10 sets of bleachers or a huge hill seems very challenging and unachievable right now. LOL  But I know on a day that I get more sleep, it will seem more appealing.  Definitely would need training time! Which would be more challenging to you?  For me, because I know how hard it is already, 10 sets of bleachers at one time would be super duper hard!  A hill would be hard but for some reason I don't think as challenging. 

--Trisha
I can completely understand your hesitation, especially with your sleep-deprivation going on!!! I think the bleachers would be more challenging for me, but even a hill is tough, considering I am packing so many EXTRA pounds. I just watch the Biggest Loser, and I am always fascinated by how much they endure that they think they can't. That really pushing themselves to the limit bit. When you are ready, let me know. There is something about that having someone to go against that you can find that little extra motivation, that push that we sometimes need!

I think a fun winter challenge...to hike up the sledding hill at the Loup 10 times!! We would hike up and sled down, and then back up, etc. I have always thought it would be a fun competition to have like 10 people total compete, and they could each pay $10, with the winner taking home the total prize money.

Sharing

--Trisha
For me today: ZUMBA!!! I had so much fun!!! I survived the challenge this past week, and what I realized more than anything is that it's not really hard to take care of myself and I am able to do good things me, and not feel guilty :)

OK, so lately I have been interested in two topics related to health. One is about rest and recovery, and the risk of over training. And, interestingly enough, today after Zumba, Lydia (the instructor) talked to me about my current program and how ABSOLUTELY important it is to have rest and recovery time, especially with my running program. I have read a TON about rest and recovery in an exercise program, be it running, weightlifting, or whatever. So, here is an article I particularly liked.

I also found this article timely given the fact that both Stephanie and I recently blogged about feeling ZAPPED of energy!

You can read about what else I am learning about regarding heart rate monitoring and exercising on my other blog!

Trisha's 'TUDE

This week--all of two days,I know, but feels like a week already--I have been doing everything I am supposed to do (eating clean, water,exercise), but I definitely don't feel as motivated...kinda have the blahs, not the blues, just the I-don't-want-to-do-much-of-anything-and-just-want-to-be-a-bum attitude. My best friend said that it's because I have been so busy and so on the go for the entire summer that I need a mellow slow down time.

Exercise has been fun this week, but I have not, for the first time this summer, been exercising super early in the morning, like I normally do...maybe that's it?!

OK, for the challenge:
Yesterday = Massage (ahhhhhh) and Zumba class, which was a blast, even though I felt completely uncoordinated!

Today = Slept in :) And,finished reading another book because I carved out time today to read!

Hopefully tomorrow brings a reset to my get-up-and-go!

Weigh-In!!

--Trisha

Last week, 230.4, this week 228.4 down 2 = .86%    SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo long 230s!

Running total down 7 pounds!! Yahoo :)


Let me tell you...considering the last four days...I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE LOST A SINGLE POUND. I did have healthy eating and exercising, but my goodness, this could have easily been a few days to derail me!

The bottom line is that by conquering these days and not feeling like I was missing anything, I KNOW I can do anything!! And, that more importantly I deserve and want this :)

OK, so now for some confessions:
1) I did not intentionally exercise on Saturday. I did miss it :( I drove my motorcycle up to Winthrop and back, and the calorie calculator says that a person who weighs as much as me burns 274 calories an hour. But, seriously that doesn't count as the same to me as my walking/jogging.
2) I did not intentionally exercise on Sunday. We did lots of walking from the parking lot to the stadium and up and down stairs, but... as well, the same calorie calculator says that you burn calories if you are driving (not riding) in a car. I drove most of the way over, and all of the way back. BUT, again...
3) I am going to double dose exercise today and Wednesday at least, since I am going to ZUMBA!!
4) I did eat some processed foods this weekend. Though, I chose SMALL portions and healthier options. The processed foods were very limited.

Things for me...our challenge. Saturday, this seems silly but if you read my other blog, you will understand...but a frozen banana. I felt like that was such a HUGE treat. Tee hee. Also, I had the choice of riding my motorcycle and going with my family to Winthrop or staying home and exercising...so, I feel like I made the choice I wanted, which was hard, because I felt guilty for not going for my walk/jog. Sunday, I bought some new running shoes!! They are Saucony brand, my favorite. I did buy them out of town, sorry Rawsons, but Rawsons doesn't carry that brand, which is perfect for how my feet are!! And, they were $80 cheaper than what I was going to buy at Rawsons.

My treats today: a MUCH needed massage, and ZUMBA class :) Can't wait!!