Follow Through Friday - # 7

I really buckled down this week and tried to accomplish the goals I set.

Last week:

• Walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1 lb
• Continue with the 30-Day Water Challenge
• Food Journal EVERYTHING and stay within my calorie limit (1600 as per Lose It)
• TOPS CHALLENGE - Follow Canada's Food Guide (this was my contribution)
• Increase the speed on my treadmill from 2.5 to 2.6

5 out of 6 (details below)

• Walking is now just habit for me, my how things can change
• I rocked this goal this week...I was actually down 5 lbs!
• Some days are still rougher than others, but I find my body craves water more
• I really focused on my food journal this week.  I knew this was my problem and if I wanted to see success, I needed to work on this big time
• I tried to follow this for one day, because it was my contribution after all.  I quickly remembered why the Canada Food Guide does not work for me.  Not enough protein!  1 serving of meat is only about 2 oz., which is not very much and I should only have 2 servings a day.  Without more meat at dinner, I get hungry and by hungry I mean I want a snack in the evening.  I am one of those lucky people that does not have a problem with late night snacking....unless I haven't had enough protein at dinner.
• This was an easy change and it felt...cheap?  As in it wasn't much of a challenge, but I will continue on with my slow increase.

Goals For The Week

• Walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1 lb
• Finish up the 30-Day Water Challenge
• Food Journal EVERYTHING and stay within my calorie limit (1567 as per Lose It)
• TOPS CHALLENGE - No Chocolate
• Increase the speed on my treadmill from 2.6 to 2.7

Food

I paid such close attention this week.  I weighed, measured and logged everything.  I tried to stay as close to my calorie budget at possible too.  There were some indulgences but it all balanced out.  My breakfast of choice for this week was this:

Peanut butter and banana sandwich and a yogurt

- 1 slice of bread

- 1 tbsp peanut butter

- 1 banana

- 1 Greek yogurt

I look at this as a complete meal.  It has something from each food group, it's simple and yummy.  When I get up, I have the sandwich.  It ties me over until I get to work and I have my yogurt about 9:30.  It's flavored and not low calorie.  The little container is 100 calories, but here is the thing.  Yogurt is not my favorite, especially the low calorie versions.  I don't enjoy them...I buy them and they end up going to waste.  So I decided to buy and eat what I enjoy and just make the allowance for them in my food plan.

Exercise

I am now working on increasing the speed at which I walk on the treadmill.  I bumped it up last week by just a little.  One of the days I decided that for the last 10 minutes I would go from 2.6 km to 3.0 km.  I must admit...that was a real challenge for me (which is the point, right?)  My stride is naturally pretty short, so it was a lot of work to keep up and maintain my stride.  I did it though and my legs protested for sure.  My calves were throbbing in bed that night.  I will do it again for sure, but only for the 10 minutes. I honestly feel that I would not be able to maintain that pace for the full time.  I am also starting to consider increasing my treadmill time from an hour to an hour and a half.  My calorie limit is getting lower so I have to be prepared to compensate for that.  I managed to get a couple of walks outside which was such a refreshing change!

Non-Scale Victory # 19

It's been a little bit since I have participated in this link up.

I haven't felt like I've accomplished enough to warrant a full post about it.

My victory is realizing that small changes can make a big difference.

One of my biggest problems was my love of butter.  I could easily consume 300 calories a day in just butter!  I did a whole post about it here!

I decided when I went shopping a couple of week ago to buy a container of

Now, I know it's not the perfect solution.  I honestly feel that butter is more natural ingredient-wise and I wish I could continue to use it, but it's not feasible to me.

2 tsp of butter is 70 calories

2 tsp of pretend butter is 30 calories.

That's a huge savings in calories for me each day.

Let me say this about it though....I CAN believe it's not butter, but it gives me the buffer I like between dry toast and my poached egg.

I would think it's fair to say I am probably saving almost 1000 calories a week by making this switch...that is almost 1 full day of food for me!  Those small changes can really make a difference, despite how tiny they feel at the time.  What small change can you make this week?

The Truth Of Tuesday Night

After last week, I was discouraged!  I knew that I had let myself down.  I was still resisting the change I knew deep down inside that I needed to work on.

FOOD LOGGING!!

So, I made a real effort at staying within my calorie budget and avoiding the foods that were not beneficial to me.  I also kept an eye on the scale at home to see if it was working.

Well, it was and it motivated me to keep going strong.

Last week: 245.00 lbs
This week: 240.00 lbs

-5.00 lbs

I DID AWESOME!!!

All I need to do is keep it up for next week!  I really think I can too.  Staying within my calorie range wasn't as difficult as I had thought.  It was just a matter of making small changes.

Follow Through Friday - # 6

Last week I scaled back my goals for the week.  There were a couple I had been adding each week, but not putting any effort into.  I decided to just leave them off the list and come back to them at a later date!

That bit me in the ass!

Let's review shall we?

Last week:

• Walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1 lb
• Continue with the 30-Day Water Challenge
• TOPS CHALLENGE - eat more fruit and veggies

2 out of 4 (details below)

• I got back on track with my walking and picked up a few lost km along the way
• I  gained...1.25 lbs, so disappointed!
• The water challenge is halfway through and it's getting easier everyday!
• I really didn't have any interest in this one either and didn't bother to purchase anything to help this one along.

Goals For The Week

• Walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1 lb
• Continue with the 30-Day Water Challenge
• Food Journal EVERYTHING and stay within my calorie limit (1600 as per Lose It)
• TOPS CHALLENGE - Follow Canada's Food Guide (this was my contribution)
• Increase the speed on my treadmill from 2.5 to 2.6

Food

I didn't think I had a terrible week food wise, but perhaps I did.  I have no real explanation as to why the scale was up.  Exercise was bang on and so was water consumption.  The only piece of the puzzle missing is the food aspect.  I just need to find some self discipline and control to stay away from foods that I don't need.  It's also good timing that my challenge for TOPS came up too.  I need some sort of guidance and the Food Guide will be a good place to start.  You can find your own copy of it here if you like.

Exercise

While I am doing very well with my walking challenge, I think it's time to work on taking it from a natural pace to one that makes me work a bit harder.  I am the first to admit that I don't walk fast enough to sweat, nor do I feel my heart pounding.  I am going to take it slow and gradually increase my speed by .1 km each week until I get comfortable doing 3.0 km/hour for 45 minutes.  I want to get back to the C25K program again, but I still don't think my feet are ready for it.  I am terrified to try it and end up sidelining myself from anything to do with my feet for months!  Perhaps I also need to consider increasing my time on the treadmill.  I am actually hoping the nice weather will take care of this, allowing me a bit of a walk at work earlier in the day and then my usual jaunt in the evening.

Hope you will join me at the link up this week!

The Truth Of Tuesday Night

Le sigh!

I'm depressed.

I felt like my week wasn't so bad, I got my exercise back on track and then...I stepped on the scale tonight

Last week: 243.75 lbs
This week: 245.00 lbs
+ 1.25 lbs

ARG!

I had an inkling this morning that the scale would be up.  When I jumped on the one at home this morning for reference, it was up.  I spent the day thinking...How can that be?  I have walked about 32 km this week in just pure exercise!  How can that not make a difference...I am doing everything I can.

And then I realized....I am NOT in fact doing everything I can.  I have not paid any real attention to the food aspect.  I eat what I think it a reasonable serving...I try to make good choices...I try to avoid temptation.
I try to do all this and NOT log my food.

Clearly it's not working for me.  To go through all the work to exercise every night and then not do anything about what's in the kitchen is clearly pointless.

So, on my way home, I bought myself a nice little journal to log my food in.  The online version is not working for me, so I will see if this version will work.

30 Day Water Challenge - Midway Review

If you recall from this post, I decided to embark on the 30 Day Water Challenge for the month of February.  I wanted some motivation to increase my water intake each day.

As of last night, here is where I am with the challenge:

I really like this little chart to keep track.  It's a nice visual display for me.  As you can see, I had a little trouble with days 4 - 10.  It's fair to say this was trouble with all aspects of my course to better health.  I didn't eat well or exercise as much during this point either.   Once I got my water intake back on track, so did my exercise.

I found once I got in the first 4, the rest was easy.  I mentally was aware that I could count on drinking 2 more while on the treadmill, so that only left me with 2 to get through.  I would just chug those.

All in all, it's a good challenge.  I will certainly do it again and may consider keeping it as an ongoing challenge.  If you decided to participate with me, how are you doing so far?

Follow Through Friday - # 5

Time to review the past week via a link up party!

Last week:

• Walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1.50 lbs
• Continue with the 30-Day Water Challenge
• Avoid the TOPS restricted food for the week - Chips (again)
• Log my food
• Blog my food journal

2 out of 6 (details below)

• While I lost a bit of flow with my walking challenge, it still is fairly easy to maintain and I like watching my numbers move along.
• I lost .25 lbs, which is great considering the week I had
• The water challenge is a great way for me to see what my water intake is like naturally.  I had a few rough days with that too, but now find myself chugging a couple glasses at night before bed to meet my qouta!
• I ALMOST managed to avoid chips, until the weekend and then I had just a tiny few, but enough that I consider it a FAIL!
• I lose all steam with this come the weekend and foods I can't easily log and track
• This went out the window with the logging!

Goals For The Week

• Walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1 lb
• Continue with the 30-Day Water Challenge
• TOPS CHALLENGE - eat more fruit and veggies

Food

Food is 100% my most difficult part of this whole change.  I like the same foods, but those foods are not necessarily healthy. I don't ever see myself filling half of my plate with veggies.  I have a sweet tooth that can't be denied some days.  I NEED TO FIGURE THIS SHIT OUT!  I truly feel like it is what is stopping me having success!

Exercise

I'm still pretty pleased with myself that I am almost 2 months into my walking challenge and can still find my way to the treadmill most nights.  The weather here has been mild for the past couple of days so I have taken that opportunity to get a bit of fresh air and extra km.

How has your week been?  What are you planning for next week to help you reach your goals?

The Truth Of Tuesday Night

Let's just get right to the point!

Last week: 244.00 lbs
This week: 243.75 lbs

Loss of 0.25 lbs

I don't really have anything to say about the scales this week.  I am neither disappointed nor surprised.  I fell off track over the course of the week and the results of that show.  Ok, I am actually surprised that I didn't gain another 3 pounds!

I can't change how my week was, but I can re-focus and do better.

Just to prove that point to me:

Linking up!

What I Love About The Blog World

Today was a bad day for me.  My weekend was shot to hell, food-wise which put me in a slump, even if I didn't think so.  Then a few other things took place and I threw myself my own little pity party, where I wallowed in some more food and a comfy chair!  I just needed a day off....off from the commitment and  same ol' same ol' on this weight loss journey of mine.

I was feeling down and lonely and then...someone new read my blog and left me an encouraging comment.  I can't even tell you how much it meant to me.  It's silly and it wasn't like someone offered me a million dollars...just a little note to say I was going good!

When I started this blog, it was just a place for me to record how I was progressing.  I wasn't even going to tell ANYONE about this blog.  I knew I intended to share my weight and secretly didn't want anyone to see it.  But I did it, and you know what?  It wasn't that bad.  I also met some awesome women along the way, one of whom I now consider a BFF, despite the fact that I have never met her in person.

Both myself and my blog has come a long way since I started it back in 2012.  I now have over 33 followers and participate 3 link ups on a regular basis.  Somedays I wish I had one of those blogs that has 100+ followers, but then I think it would feel more like a job, trying to keep that many people "entertained."  My blog is my place to be myself and share what I am feeling.

The weight loss blog community has a "family" feeling to it.  It's a place where we can all come together.  Despite our backgrounds, race, religion, location or anything else...the struggle is the same.  There are days where you rock that workout and feel like a superstar.  There are other days when you feel like a lump and don't know how you can continue to do this for one more day.  Then this happens...you browse around and read the blogs you follow and stumble across someone who posts about their awesome day and it encourages you to get off the couch, put down the fork and have your own awesome day!

So, to all of you that follow or read my blog, thank you!  It means a lot to me that you would take a moment out of a busy day or spend some of your free time reading about my day and my struggle.

Food Journal For February 7, 2014

Breakfast - 317 calories

• 2 slices of toast
• 1 Tbsp light peanut butter
• 1/2 cup apple juice

Lunch - 436 calories

• 2.5 cups tomato soup made with 1% milk
• 7 soda crackers

Dinner - 450 calories

• 1.5 cups homemade macaroni and cheese

Snacks - 1055 calories

• 10 cups popcorn
• 1 Caramilk bar
• 1 bottle of ginger ale
• 3/4 cup pineapple

Exercise - 325 calories

• walking - 325 calories

Total Calorie Allotment: 1593

Total Calories Eaten:  2258

Total  Calories Burned:  325

End Total: + 340

I have decided...I need to tell my husband to not bring me home popcorn from the hockey game on Thursdays.  This honestly makes me so sad....it's the BEST popcorn.  It might be ok if it was my only indulge for the whole week, but it's not.  I was thinking about it today while I was eating it at work...shoveling the tiny "garbage" bits into my mouth, spilling down my shirt and every where else.  I was disappointed.  At this point in the bag, it should just be garbage, but it's so salty and buttery and just perfect!  Now, I didn't need the chocolate bar and pop today either. It wasn't a bad day if you took that away.  The thing is though...it's all well and good to say that, but most of my days are the same.  I spend a great deal of time talking myself out of junk I don't need.  Sometimes I overcome it and other days, it just occupies my mind so much that I have to have something.  Le sigh!

Follow Through Friday - # 4

Time to review the past week with the Follow Through Friday link up.

Last week:

• walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1.50 lbs
• Start my 30 Day water challenge - Feb 1 - March 2 - see blog tomorrow for more details
• Do at least 3 - 10 minute workouts with weights - TOPS challenge for the week
• Log my food

2.5 out of 5 (details below)

• I'm still doing good with my walking challenge.  I lost a bit of momentum mid week, but am reigning it back in
• Did NOT lose, in fact I gained...but oh well!
• I started this Feb. 1 and for the most part am keeping up with it.  About the same time I started to struggle with the walking challenge, the water challenge followed suit.  Again, I am getting that one back in line too.
• No interest in doing this one to be honest.  I'm not at the point where I am looking to add different exercise.  I'm comfortable with just my cardio right now.
• I have myself a half complete on that one.  For the most part, I logged everything, but I did miss a couple of days

Goals For The Week

• Walk my required km for each day - 5.70 km
• Lose 1.50 lbs
• Continue with the 30-Day Water Challenge
• Avoid the TOPS restricted food for the week - Chips (again)
• Log my food
• Blog my food journal

Food

If I'm being completely honest, I was completely disappointed with the scale on Tuesday. I put on the 3 lbs I lost the week previous.  I didn't think I had a terrible week food-wise, but it wasn't great and it must have had an impact.  I re-committed again to logging my food on Lose It and decided to take it one step further and post it on my blog each day as well.  We have eaten out more this week then we have over the past few weeks.  Tomorrow is not going to be much better.  We are heading out to the Sportsman Show and so that will mean at least lunch out.  Probably breakfast and dinner too though.  I'm trying to avoid pop and just drink water, or at the very least, make sure I get my water quota in BEFORE the pop.

Exercise

Still ticking away the km for my walking challenge with Julie to Arkansas.  I did do a bit of snow shoveling on Wednesday and Lose It said it burned a huge amount of calories, but I don't know that I buy it.  I do know it got my heart rate going and it wasn't just because I was trying to shovel with a 4 year old.  Our TOPS challenge for the week was to do 3-10 minute weight sessions, but it wasn't calling enough to me to dust off my hand weights.  At some point I will bring that in, I know I will need to tone and that muscle burns more calories than fat, but I'm just not ready.

How about you....how are you doing?

Food Journal For February 6, 2014

Breakfast - 300 calories

• 2 slices of toast
• 2 tsp butter
• 3 tsp strawberry jam

Lunch - 352 calories

• 2 apples
• 3 slices old cheese

Dinner - 1348 calories

• Arby's large roast beef sandwich
• medium curly fries
• medium sprite
• 1/3 slice of cake
• jelly beans

Exercise - 244 calories

• walking - 244 calories

Total Calorie Allotment: 1593

Total Calories Eaten: 2000

Total Calories Burned: 244

End Total:  +163

Not my best day.  I chalk it up again to poor planning.  I had absolutely nothing to take for lunch worthwhile.  I decided that I would have lunch and dinner combined.  On the bright side, I did walk on the treadmill.  I had talked myself out of it all together earlier.  My feet hurt and I had some crafts I wanted to work on.  Then I felt disappointed with myself for over-indulging and told myself I could at least go and walk my 2.85 km required for my challenge...it's only about 25 minutes.

Food Journal For February 5, 2014

I need to start logging...it helps...I have proved it to myself before.

Breakfast - 161 calories

• 1 poached egg
• 1 slice of bread - NO BUTTER
• 1/2 banana

Lunch - 396 calories

• 2 slices of bread
• 1 tbsp cheeze wiz
• 2 tsp margarine
• 1 banana

Dinner - 1052 calories

• nachos and cheese
• 2 cups honey nut cheerios
• 1 1/2 cup of 1% milk
• 1/2 piece of cake
• 30 g marble cheese

Exercise - 798 calories

• walking - 217 calories
• 1 hour snow shoveling - 581 calories

Total Calorie Allotment: 1593

Total Calories Eaten: 1661

Total Calories Burned: 798

End Total:  -730

Wednesdays and Weekends are by far my toughest days!  Wednesday because it's just me and Abby at home.  I was doing ok until I came back in from shoveling snow.  From then on I was HUNGRY!  To top it off, I hadn't planned anything really for supper due to hockey.  But hockey was cancelled due to the weather and I had to come up with something to eat.  I had nachos, but it wasn't what I wanted and it didn't hit the spot.   That lead to the cake and the cereal.  If the exercise numbers are correct, I had the calorie range to not worry about it.  I'm not betting the farm on the fact that snow shoveling burned almost 600 calories.

Tomorrow is another day and I will do better being at work.  I'm not sure what lunch will be, but perhaps I stop and get some lunch meat.  Hopefully blogging this will help me be more accountable.

Despite my weight gain yesterday, I don't feel like I actually put that much on. My clothes felt looser and I didn't feel bloated.  It's also a particularly "female" time for me right now, but often I find I loose a bit of weight during that time, but maybe not this time around.  Ah well, it doesn't really matter, I am still working towards being healthier and that doesn't always mean being thinner.

The Truth of Tuesday Night

Sorry it's a day behind.  Yesterday was pretty hectic.  I got home from my TOPS meeting early due to the fact that only 3 of us showed up.  That worked out fine, because I had a cake to decorate and a show to watch.  Next thing I knew it was 10 pm and time for bed.

You didn't miss much anyway....those 3 pounds I took off last week came right back.

Last week: 240.75 lbs

This week: 244.00 lbs

+ 3.25 lbs

I'm not 100% surprised.  I did let myself slide a bit on food and probably had a bit too much popcorn and jelly beans.  I also skipped an extra day of exercise.

Again though, I'm not disheartened about it.  I'm doing well with my water challenge and our restricted food from TOPS this week is once again CHIPS.  I will succeed with it this time!

I also plan to post my food diary on here to keep me just that little bit more accountable.

I'm off to link up....see you there!

23 Tips for Drinking More Water

Now that it's day 2 of the water challenge, I thought I better start looking for ways to encourage myself to drink more water and I came across this article that is full of great ideas.  Make sure you click the link to read the entire article.

• Don’t allow yourself a diet soda until you’ve had two to four glasses of water. Eventually you will find that you won’t crave the soda as much.
• Have a big glass of water at every transitional point of the day: when you first get up, just before leaving the house, when you sit down to work, etc.

• Make it convenient – keep a big, insulated water bottle full on your desk and reach for it all day.
• Down a full glass several times a day. Go over to your kitchen right now and fill up a glass. No sipping over time. Just drink it down right after you fill it up.

• Track it. Make a chart and tick it off each time you drink a glass. Do a chart for 30 days and you will have made drinking water a part of your routine.
• Have one glass every hour on the hour while at work or school. When the work/school day is done, your water quota is met.

• Freeze peeled pieces of lemons, limes, and oranges and use them instead of ice cubes – it’s refreshing and helps get in a serving or two of fruit.
• After each trip to the restroom, guzzle an eight-ounce glass to replenish your system.
• Set a goal to drink X amount of water a day, then write it down along with your reasons WHY! Remembering your motivation will help you keep going when enthusiasm fades.

• Every time you walk past a water fountain, take a sip or two. (This is actually advice my own doctor gave me recently after a nasty kidney stone incident!)
• Fizz it up!  Get a home seltzer maker like a Soda Stream and make your own fizzy H2O!  Add a dash of lemon or a splash of O.J. and you’ll have a super refreshing drink!
• Fill up a large cup with crushed ice or ice cubes and snack on them (like candy!) throughout the day.
• Make a bet with a co-worker to see who can drink more water in the course of a day.

• When drinking juice (apple, grape, or orange) fill half the glass with water or ice and make sure to consume all of it.
• Bring a two-liter bottle of water to work and try to drink it all before you leave work. If you don’t finish, drink it in traffic on the way home – it’s like a race.

• Keep a large cup full of ice at your desk and keep re-filling it with water. The key is drinking with a straw – you take bigger gulps and drink more at a time.
• Here’s a tip if you’re trying to shed some pounds: Let ounces of water double grams of fat: when eating something containing 10 grams of fat, drink 20 ounces of water.
• Drink two full glasses at each meal, one before and one after. Also, drink one glass before each snack so you don’t eat as much.

• Put reminders into your phone or calendar to drink at regular intervals. Surprisingly, this helps me a LOT!  I know it sounds lame, but I just plain FORGET to drink water!
• Carry a small refillable water bottle at all times and drink during downtime; while waiting in a bank line, sitting on the train, etc.

• Not ALL your water has to be COLD…drink some of it HOT. Have a nice warm cup of tea instead. But be sure it’s decaf since caffeine actually robs you of water (it’s a diuretic).
• Always keep a bottle of water handy while watching TV, doing laundry, making dinner, etc.
• Add drinking two glasses of water to your daily skincare regimen. Drink, cleanse, moisturize, then drink again.

Road Trip Review - 2014 Edition - Month 1

Here we are, Julie and I, on the road again...trekking across the country to parts unknown.

The Facts:

• First Pit Stop of the journey is Crowley State Park, Arkansas - 1399 km
• Next stop and final destination is Devil's Den State Park, Arkansas - 325 km
• Total of 1724 km
• 5.70 km a day, 40.95 km a week and 172.40 km a month
• We have 10 months to complete the journey, from January 1 - October 31
• Our daily, everyday walking counts, but only up to half of our required distance - 2.85 km
• Each 30 minutes of non-walking/running exercise counts as 0.50 km, up to 3.20 km of our total

The Road So Far:

Month 1 - January

-total walked: 197.53 km

-total eligible: 174.22 km

  ( + 1.82 over)

Oh yeah baby!  I did it!  I finished on the plus side of the goal this month.  This is awesome for so many reasons.  

Reason # 1 - I'm not behind

Reason # 2 - I caught up on the km I was behind on in the beginning, I didn't think

                  that would happen until March.

Reason # 3 - Out of 31 days this month, I was above my daily km for 18 of them

Reason # 4 - I used the treadmill 6 days a week for the last 3 weeks

I'm not going to lie OR be modest.....I'M AWESOME!  Like, super radical dude!  Coming into the new year, I knew Julie and I would be doing some sort of walking challenge again that would require us to walk roughly the same km as the last challenge.  I also knew I didn't want to be behind again.  But the thing is this, until I actually had the concrete numbers in my hand and the blog written, I didn't consider the challenge official and that lead to my deficit in the beginning.  By January 9th, I was already 22.60 km behind!!!  After that point, the only day I was short on km was Tuesdays.

Everyday I do at least 45 minutes on the treadmill.  Usually it's after the kids go to bed at 8, but if I can sneak it in earlier or over the course of the day, I do.  I'm lucky enough to have a treadmill in my basement and Netflix to watch.  It makes the time go by a bit faster although I do find the first 30 minutes take F-O-R-E-V-E-R to go by, but once it's passed, next thing I know I've been on for an hour.

As part of the challenge this time, Julie made me promise to do maps of my journey.  See, I am such a knob that she took pity on my and sent me STEP BY STEP photo instructions...but guess what!!  They worked!

So, after the first leg of this journey, here are the photos of where I am:

It doesn't look as impressive from this view, let's get a little closer

As you can see, I have stopped off at Mountsberg Conservation Area, located in Campbellville, ON.

They have some cool stuff like raptors and owls, bison and goats....I totally want to go here...for reals!

Julie was also kind enough to send me a paper version of our map to hang on the wall AND a picture of our final destination.  

Because I am a closet nerd, I made myself some cute little push pin markers from the show that inspired this walk...Supernatural.  If you have watched the show, you know they drive an awesome black Impala, so naturally that had to be the main marker.  Just riding in the car with "my boys"

So there you have it, my journey so far for this month.  I will continue to do just as well for next month.

Julie's on a little real life road trip right now, but promised me she would get her blog up when she got back, so when she does, show her a little love won't ya please?

30 Day Water Challenge

Drinking water is a perpetual problem for me.  It's recommended that you drink 8 glasses of water a day.  I know I fall short on that one on a regular basis.  I am 100% better than I used to be.  There was a time when I could go days without drinking water at.  I drank juice and pop...that was it.  I would open a can of pop just shortly after I opened my eyes in the morning.  My rational was that I don't drink tea or coffee, so it was my source of caffeine, even though it doesn't give me that "get up and go" feel.

To keep in line with a healthier me for 2014, I decided to look for a water challenge.  My go-to place of Pinterest lead me to a print out for this one.

Print one out for yourself here....you just have to scroll down a little way to find it.

It's almost the end of day 1 and I only have 3 more glasses to drink.  Day 1 is ALWAYS easy...heck, the first week is usually pretty easy.  We will see how I do by the end.  I have also challenged myself to only have 2 of the glasses each day flavored with a flavor package.  Lemon water at any time is OK though.  If I don't make it, well I haven't lost anything, but if I do it, then by the end of the 30 days, drinking water should be pure habit!

Who wants to join me?  If you say, "I can't!  I will fail!" then that just means this is exactly the right challenge for you!