Come one, come all (well size 10s at least!)

Have I got a deal for you!  Things have been going pretty well weight loss wise for the past month.  I have dropped a total of 11 pounds since I started focusing on my weight loss again at the end of September.  Overall that gives me a 30 pound weight loss (woot woot!).  But I have a long way to go to make it to my goal to be able to go on my cruise (and also to be healthier, feel better in my own body, you know all the other benefits of losing the weight).  I've decided that I need a little additional motivation to get back on track after just getting home from a vacation (I actually gained about 5 pounds with this vacation, I was down 35 pounds before my week vacation to Texas.  Darn that Mexican food, BBQ, and desserts!) and to stay on track throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.  Anyone that knows me really well knows that I LOVE shoes, especially pretty and flashy high heel shoes. I mean this week when I was visiting Houston, I coveted after some beautiful Jimmy Choo shoes for days. They were purple and teal blue, had feathers, jewels, etc, etc. They are a Jillian's dream come true.  Let me just give you a visual display of some eye candy. 

I mean come on!  They are beautiful.  Okay, back to reality.  So I am thinking that I need to put out a wager to keep me motivated.  I have these awesome pink high heel shoes that I absolutely LOVE.  They are my Carrie Bradshaw-esque shoes.  I feel like a million bucks every time I wear them.  So here's the wager.  I HAVE to lose another 5 pounds by the 30th of November or else I will give these beautiful size 10 shoes to whomever posts first on here for dibs.  Luckily for me, I know I can do this and keep my beautiful pink shoes.  I will keep them. 

Current Weight:  249#
Total Weight Loss:  30#
Total % Weight Loss:  11%
GOAL:  Weight to be at 244# by midnight on 11/30/2011

Who wants my pretty pink shoes (as shown above) if I mess up?  Let me know!  Here's to hoping I keep these beauties! 

Week 1 Results, 33 more weeks to go until my ship sets sail!

Of course I am a little bit off schedule with reporting my weight loss for the first week.  What's new, right?  So the end of the first week was on Tuesday.  I am excited to report that my weight was at 255#!  The exclamation mark is included because my overall goal was to be down to 256# minimum, and I am less than that.  It was fun to go to Weight Watchers and have the person checking my weight tell me that I did great.  I told him the number was even better when I didn't have any clothes on.  He replied telling me that he would be facing a lot of law suits if they had us take off our clothes.  Here is what I have been focusing on this last week to achieve my weight loss:

- Track intake:  I have been using the Weight Watchers food tracker online for this.  I like their tracker but I have to admit that I enjoy FatSecret.com a little bit more.  FatSecret has a larger database including more restaurants than the food database for Weight Watchers.  But I still like Weight Watchers and will keep using it, especially since I paid for it. 

- Exercise exercise!  I have been trying to make sure I get at least a 1/2 hour each day.  But this past week I have been able to get at least an hour each day except for a couple (Friday and Sunday).  I have been focusing mostly on cardio again but also strength training to tone things up too.  There is a new workout video kicking my trash this week.  It's Jillian Michaels Fat Burn Boost Metabolism.  It is hard core and I've been very sore all week.  Jillian Michaels and I are having a love/ hate relationship.  My coworker gave me the great idea to say "VIVA ITALIA!" every time I want to give up while getting my butt kicked by Jillian. 

- Limit the eating out.  Mostly this has helped me stay in my calorie goal range.  But it has also been quite pleasant on my wallet.  Love that! 

There you have it my friends.  I am going to keep this going.  Thank you also to all of you for sharing what you have been doing too.  It helps to know that other people are out there working towards the same goal too.  I know you all can do it.  Here is an inspirational video to help push you along.........................

http://youtu.be/eaIvk1cSyG8

Now I am going to go ride my stationary bike! 

P.S.  Here is a great quote I got from Weight Watchers on Wednesday.  "Weight loss is not about perfection.  Weight loss is about persistence." 

The clock is ticking....tick tock!

So for those of you who have been following my blog from the very beginning, you know that Angie and I have a goal to go to Italy when we reach our final weight loss goal.  Well, we both really want to reach our goal weights.  We both also really really want to go to Italy.  The time has come to actually put an expiration date on this trip and we have found the cruise to do just that.  Tonight we both put down a deposit for a 7 night Mediterranean cruise which will be leaving on May 20th, 2012.  The cruise will leave from Rome, Italy (ROME!) and then have ports in Messina (Sicily) Italy, Ephesus Turkey (I've already been there but I am okay to visit again), Athens Greece (ATHENS!), Crete Greece, and back to Rome.  Here is just a glimpse of where we could go.......

Messina Italy!

So here's what HAS to happen before we pay our final payment in March 2012.  We both have to be down to a certain weight before we will pay for the whole cruise.  To save our spot, we had to put down a $250 deposit that is refundable.  So if we aren't to a good weight by March then we will pull out of the cruise and be super sad.  We aren't going to go on the cruise looking like this...................................

The cruise is going to be our celebration for losing the weight.  Plus it is going to be A LOT of work from here on out.  The cruise will be a great treat (better than awarding ourselves with food!).  I have officially joined Weight Watchers which includes me going to weekly meetings with a friend of mine.  Also I am having my coworker check my weight at the beginning of the week and at the end of the week.  She is super skinny and in shape and she is going to keep me on track because it will be embarrassing to not be losing weight with her checking it.  My work is also going to start giving us time to work out for a half hour on our lunch break,, this is time I would be silly not to utilize. So I have no excuses.  I have to check in to people IN PERSON which should be motivation enough to keep me on track.  Plus I really want to go on this trip.  And I want to be able to wear a cute swimming suit like this.......................................................................

In exactly eight months from now I plan to be down an overall 100 pounds.  Right now I am at 258#, which is an overall 21# weight loss since the beginning of my weight loss competition with Angie.  This means I need to lose 78# to be at my overall goal.  To make things even/fair between Angie and I with losing weight by our trip, we have figured out that I need to lose a minimum of 60#.  But I would LOVE to lose the full 78# to be down to 180# by our trip. As I have told some people about my goal, they think it's crazy to be down 78# in 8 months, but 2.3# per week (that will be my goal to acheive this) is considered a healthy weight loss.  When I started my weight loss competition on May 20th, 2010 I had lost 30# by my birthday on July 20th, 2010.  That was only 2 months!  This is doable.  This is attainable.  And I am investing a lot into it. 

Thank you all for your help and support in this endeavor.  You all are the best!  Next week I will be reporting my weight at least at 256# (hopefully more!).  See you on the skinnier side of things. 

With A Little Help From My Friends!

First, The Beatles are awesome.  I don't really need to expand on this.  We all know it, so enough said.  Second, friends and family and coworkers and everyone else are awesome (almost even more than The Beatles).  I have had such great support and encouragement from you all this past week and I appreciate it SO MUCH.  It's amazing what you can accomplish with a little help from your friends.  I've had people offer to go to the ballet class with me.  I have a friend that is going to possibly sign up for Weight Watchers with me so we can force each other to go to the weekly meetings and weigh ins.  I went to dinner twice this weekend with friends and we went to places with healthier options.  I went hiking twice this past week (see pictures below) with a friend.  And my friend and I are going to check in each night this next week just to keep the motivation going ALL week long.  So, the ground work has been laid, now it's just time to get to work!  This last week was good to figure out everything I need to do and when and how I need to do it each and everyday.  I also lost 1#, so current weight is 259#.  As I said before, slow and steady wins the race and this time I will finish the race because you all are so inspiring and helpful.  If you need a little help from your friends to get motivated with something, don't be afraid to ask.  If you have such great friends as I do, you'd be amazed at the things they are willing to do to help support you.  Thank you thank you thank you!  

These are both from a hike that I took with Angie to The Living Room.  The hike itself wasn't the prettiest except for the VIEW!  Hiking this last week has made me appreciate living in such a beautiful place.  Sorry the pictures are blurry, they were taken with my phone.  I am red in the picture from exhaustion (it was HOT!) and the sunset.

Where does the time go????

This has been a busy summer so far.  I can't believe it is already August 14th.  This summer has mostly been consumed by taking a boards exam to become an IBCLC (international board certified lactation consultant).  I started studying for this test in April and finally took the test on July 24th.  As I was studying I definitely let things go in the working out and exercising department.  Along with many other things, I kept telling myself that I would get back on track with this "after the test".  I am sure my family and friends got sick of hearing me say that I would do this and that "after the test".  In fact I kind of got sick of hearing myself say that. 

So now it is "after the test" and I still am not back on track.  I went to a family reunion and even though we try to have healthy things there, we always end up eating a lot.  So I told myself that I would get back on track after that.  And to be quite honest, I didn't.  Instead last week I was very lazy.  I ate out WAY WAY too much.  I didn't exercise until the end of the week, and that exercising was more of a social thing than just exercising for health (Disclaimer, even though it was social, it was also intense and I realized how out of shape I am.  3 hour hike up Bells Canyon.  Walked in a Relay for Life team for 2 hours in the middle of the night on Friday.  Oh yeah!).  Well the excuses have to stop.  There will always be a reason not to work out or to eat that extra serving.  In fact there will always be something that I can say, "after _____, I will get back on track".  I am right now at 260#. Yup, sucks. Since this time last year, I have gained about 11 pounds (my lowest weight I got to was 249# last fall sometime). This is all due to lack of motivation and giving myself stupid excuses.  I hate putting my weight up on my blog for all my friends and family and people that stalk my blog to see.  But there is no time to be sad, the weight will come off again. PLUS, I have to be happy to not have gone back up to 279# with all the lack of exercising and eating right that I've been doing pretty much since January.  So it's got to stop and today is my last day of being a lazy bum.

My friends of the blogging world (which pretty much all of you are part of my real life world too, love ya!) it's time that I start checking in with you again on a weekly basis.  When I was blogging consistently, I was doing really good overall and losing the weight.  So I need you all, whether you read it or not weekly that's your prerogative, to check in with.  If by some chance I don't update my blog each Sunday night, then I want you to harass me.  Comment on my facebook, send me a text or e-mail, give me a harsh dirty look when I see you, tell me how disappointed you were to not see my update.  Do what you wish, I need it. 

Here are the other things I plan to do to get back on track:
- Use Fatsecret again on my fancy phone (one of the main reasons I use a smart phone) to track my eating.
- I am going to update my embarrassing poster at work each and every Friday.  (Yes Angie, I think we should do it each Friday and not Tuesday.  Let me know what you think about that.)
- More physical activity.  I need minimum 30 minutes each and every day.  Overall goal would be 90 minutes at least 4 times/ week. 
- I am actually going to check out a Weight Watchers group.  I need someone to check in with on a routine basis where I have to weigh in right in front of them. 
- There is a couple of continuing education classes (Adult Ballet, starts on September 1st for anyone interested in joining me.) that I plan on starting.
- And again and most important, updating my blog EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY!

So there we have it friends.  It all begins when I wake up in the morning.  I had a delicious, not so healthy dinner to fill my canteen.  I ate some better than sex cake and now will probably donate the rest to either my boyfriend, roommate, coworkers, the garbage disposal, or anyone else that wants it.  I don't even want to figure out the calories on that.  :) 

Word of the day is..............

Foodie

What is a foodie you ask?  Well there are many definitions.  Here are some examples:

The Definition of Foodie From Wikipedia
Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.

Distinguished from gourmet.  Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news.  Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food.

Typical foodie interests and activities include the food industry, wineries and wine tasting, breweries and beer sampling, food science, following restaurant openings and closings, food distribution, food fads, health and nutrition, and restaurant management. A foodie might develop a particular interest in a specific item, such as the best egg cream or burrito. Many publications have food columns that cater to foodies. Interest by foodies in the 1980s and 1990s gave rise to the Food Network (one of the many reasons why I don't have cable!) and other specialized food programming, popular films and television shows about food such as Top Chef and Iron Chef, a renaissance in specialized cookbooks, specialized periodicals such as Gourmet Magazine and Cook's Illustrated, growing popularity of farmers' markets, food-oriented websites like Zagat's and Yelp, publishing and reading food blogs, specialized kitchenware stores like Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table (I love to look around stores like this and dream of when someday I'll have my own kitchen), and the institution of the celebrity chef (love me some Rachel Ray and The Take Home Chef, Curtis Brown!)

The Definition of Foodie From Urban Dictionary:
1.  A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie.

2. Simply put, a foodie is someone who loves everything there is to know or learn about food.
3.  A foodie is a person who loves or has a deep admiration for food and eating food. Does not necessarily have to be fat, but like eating. They might feel happy or very at peace when being around food.

4.  If you like food, you are a foodie.


So why am I giving the definition of a foodie?  Well a couple of weeks ago, I came to the realization that I AM A FOODIE.  There, I have completed the first step, admittance.  While driving to the Jazz basketball game, one of my friends and I pointed out restaurant after restaurant for places we liked to go, wanted to go, or recommended never to go.  Countless times, my friends and I have discussed making a list to put in our cars or purses for restaurants in the SLC area that we would like to eat at.  Many times, my weekend activities revolve around food.  Hardly ever do my friends and I spend time together without going to get something to eat.  I just got a community education booklet for classes offered this summer and of the 5 classes I am interested in attending, 2 are about food. 

I think my foodie characteristic is something that I need to change to help me be successful in my weight loss goals.  This past week and a half I have been sick w/ bronchitis, a sinus infection, and double ear infection (refer to my previous blog post on my feelings about this).  With being sick, I actually have not eaten out except for one day w/ my coworkers for lunch.  It's been like my foodie has been buried under a pile of Puffs Plus tissues.  With not eating out so much, I have saved A LOT of money over the past week or so.  I also have lost quite a bit of weight since all that I have at home are healthy food options.  I have lost 4 pounds in the last week with being home sick.  I haven't been able to work out, but the weight has still come off with eating better.  That makes me happy and makes me realize how important it is to limit eating out.  But, can I keep the foodie in me pushed aside for very long?  That is a good question. 

 

Here are some solutions I came up with to tame the foodie inside me.  I am going to suggest to friends that we eat on our own before activities.  Or I can even meet up with them AFTER they get done with going to dinner/ lunch/ brunch/ etc.  If we do want to eat together, maybe we could just cook together.  I have a huge dining room table, we might as well use it.  When eating out, I could possibly share my entrees w/ my friends which would result in an automatic caloric intake reduction and portion control.  Also I can again try to make the better decisions on what I eat when eating out.  I could choose a salad w/ dressing on the side instead of pizza.  In general, I want to eat out only 1-2 times/ week.  This should be easier now that I live close to work and eat lunch at home when working.  I will then utilize the above solutions to help take care of eating out for dinner.  We'll see how this goes.  If this doesn't work than I may need to start a Foodies Anonymous group to overcome my foodie characteristics. 

It's Going To Take A Little Mind Over Matter This Week........

I have a fun little story to tell you but first I have to explain the title for the post this week.  So I have been planning to hit it into high gear this week.  Last week I was doing pretty good, but not 100%.  All week I kept saying that I was going to build back up to 100% for this week.  I think I cursed myself.  It always seems that when I get in the groove and start doing really well w/ my goals that something happens, usually I get sick, go on vacation, etc. and get off track.  Well I have had a little set back already to start out the week.  Time for a story.......

Friday night I got the opportunity to go up to my friend Monty's cabin up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  This cabin and I have a love/ hate relationship.  The first time I went to the cabin I got major rope burn (blisters, cuts, the whole 9 yards) on both of my hands after falling off their homemade zip line.  I live in Utah, so of course there is still a lot of snow up there in the middle of March.  We went early and trudged a path in the snow to the cabin.  Just on the side of the road there was enough snow piled up that it was taller than me.  Since we were the first people going to the cabin, it was a little rough walking through the snow.  We kept sinking, in fact multiple times I went down in the snow up to my hips.  But we made it!  The problem arose on the way back to the cars.  It was late and dark.  We were using our friends cell phone for a flashlight.  Luckily all the people that came after us compacted the snow better, so we didn't sink in as much.  Right at the end we had to go down a 3-4 foot drop and around the pile of snow on the side of the road which then  led to the road.  As I took my first step down the drop, my purse started sliding off my arm so I went to adjust it, lost my footing, and fell head first down the hill into the hard compacted snow from the road.  As I was hitting the snow, I thought to myself "ah crap, this is going to hurt" and heard my neck pop, followed by belly flopping against the rest of the snow.  It hurt.  It still hurts.  Luckily I didn't break anything (especially my neck) and I can still move, it just hurts to move.  I have been taking it easy the rest of the weekend, but things are getting more sore and stiff at work today.  I can't let this stop my progress though.  I still want to be 100% for this week.  Darn cabin and working out curse! 

So here's the plan:  I am going to eat healthy everyday.  No goof ups.  Next week, I am going to post my food intake on the blog to keep me on track.  That way it'll keep me from goofing up even more because I have to tell you all what I ate.  I am going to still work out, but things that will be low impact on my back and shoulders/arms/ neck - so I'm thinking it's going to be a recumbent bike week.  We'll see how it goes.  I am going to break this curse one way or another.  I'll check in with you next week! 

Thanks for all your support.  I have about 2 months until my 1 year mark for starting this whole weight loss adventure.  It's time to kick it into high gear.  Hopefully I won't have any more things come up to side track the progress.  Until next week!

Time to Report!

So in my last post I came up with the idea to be accountable to all of you on a daily basis for 14 days to help me build healthy habits again.  I was making daily status posts on Facebook about whether I had a healthy habit or bad habit day.  It was considered a healthy habit day if I stayed in my calorie range and worked out.  Bad habit days were when these didn't happen.  So here are the results:

The first 6 days ROCKED!  I worked out for 1- 1 1/2 hours each day and I ate within my calorie range.  On day 7, I had a continuing education dinner for dietitians at a fantastic restaurant.  I ate a delicious meal including a chopped salad and salmon.  But the side dishes were augratin potatoes and creamed spinach.  And then the killer, creme brulee.  I LOVE CREME BRULEE!  So I ate unhealthy that day and did not work out since we got done late and I was too full to workout after.  This is when everything started going down hill fast.  I started having half good habit and half bad habit days.  It was like I would eat healthy but then not go to the gym.  Or I would go to the gym and then eat terribly which counter acted the progress I made at the gym.  And then the ultimate habit killer occurred, I went on a last minute road trip to California.  I was stuck in a car w/ delicious (not so healthy) treats for 12 hours each way.  Plus we ate at Jack in the Box at least 3-4 times (since we don't have those in Utah).  And we ate out for every single meal and I did not figure out my calories once on the whole trip.  When I got home I should have reported bad habit days all across the board for Thursday through Sunday.  AND I gained 5 pounds over the weekend.  Booo!

Luckily I have been able to kick it back into gear over the past week and I've taken 4 of the 5 pounds off so far.  I've been better at going to the gym and I've been trying to make better food choices.  But I still need to be even more consistent with the gym and start tracking my calories again.  I have been debating whether or not to start the good habit/ bad habit day posts again for another 14 days.  It was working really well when I was doing it.  I think I will, so I hope you all don't get annoyed with it.  Sorry this post wasn't very inspirational or anything like that today.  I mostly just wanted to let you all know what was going on with my weight loss progress and what happened with the last challenge.  I'm going to add in some fun pictures from my trip so you can at least see how beautiful it was in California.  I hope you all are persevering with your weight loss (and weight gain!) goals.  Just keep swimming! 

 Me in a tree! 

 Beautiful Santa Barbara California! 

5 reasons why I gained weight with the trip.  Delicious treats from a Danish bakery in Solvang, California.

Camile and I in front of the waterfall outside of Solvang, California.

And cute, quaint downtown Solvang, California.  I adore Solvang!

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming. Swimming.......................

I have been MIA in a lot of things lately, especially with updating my blog.  Which I apologize for, sorry.  There are a lot of explanations for why I haven't blogged.  The biggest two explanations would be the fact that I have been MIA from the gym over the past month or two.  The other explanation would be the fact that I have been MIA from eating very healthy too.  Both of these explanations have caused bad results in my overall weight loss journey.  Too be more blunt, I have gained weight instead of lost weight and I pretty much haven't wanted to write about it. 

My mojo has once again been lost!  I feel like this is happening more frequently too.  I haven't wanted to work out and when I do I haven't really put in a lot of effort either.  I also haven't been cautious or even that aware of my food intake either.  Just ask my Mom, we started a little competition back in January to track our food intake and exercise and whomever had the greatest caloric deficit won the competition.  Well, I failed at doing that too.  (Sorry Mom!) 

Luckily Angie has come to my rescue!  She has been helping me stay on track for the past week.  I am trying to make healthier food choices (which has been a slow go but I am getting more and more motivated now) and we are trying to get in physical activity at least 4 times per week.  These are our goals until the 28th of February, which is not a long time frame at all.  I am hoping that this small short term competition will help me get back into the habit again.  They always say that it takes only 14 days to make a habit.  Hopefully this will be the case for me. 

But I want to make it public on a daily basis for how I am doing.  I need some personal coaches out there.  So my plan is to post on facebook every night when I go to bed for the next 14 days whether I am building a good habit or bad habit.  My status will say good habit today or bad habit today.  Sorry, you may get sick of seeing these posts for the next 14 days, if so then just hide me until the end.  If we aren't friends on facebook, then request me (I can't believe we aren't friends yet!).  I need to check in with someone on a daily basis. I need people to yell at me when I am making bad decisions.  This is where all of you come in.  And I am willing to reciprocate the coaching too.

I also have hung up some inspiration in places around my bedroom and car.  I have a picture of Jennifer Hudson (She has lost a ton of weight doing Weight Watchers and looks FANTASTIC!  I want to look like her when this is all over, toned and curvy!) in my bathroom.  I have put the weight I want to be on my scale, so every time I step on it (or even look at it) I can remember my goal.  Oh yeah, I want to be down to 50 pounds by May 31st!  That means I have 30 pounds to go in 14 1/2 weeks.  Which is 2 pounds per week.  Which is on average what I was losing when I was being a good girl.  I have been eating lunch in my car a lot lately (I need to get away from the office for at least an hour each day so I eat in my car instead of at the office) and so I am going to put the weight and a skinny picture of me in my car so I see it everyday when I am on my lunch break.  This too should help me make better decisions when eating out because it should be hard to go to Taco Bell when your weight loss goal is staring you in the face.   

I know all of these things are simple and some may and may not work.  But I found a great quote today.  I don't know who it is by but it's fantastic.  It says, "you don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there."  Seriously, that is awesome!  I am going to keep treading through the water until I reach the finish line.  I know I am going to get tired from time to time and other times I am going to swim through the water like an Olympic champion.  Sometimes I will be only waist deep in the water and sometimes my head will be barely sticking out, but I am not going to be submerged.  Weight loss is hard.  It's an ongoing battle that I know I am going to have to deal with the rest of my life.  If I give up and just let myself stay "in the water" I could end up like one of those people who have to have a wall cut out of their house so they can go to the hospital.  Luckily, I know I can never ever give up (I'm a stubborn girl from time to time).  It's time to start swimming instead of treading.  Now where are my goggles and swim cap?

It's a New Year, so it's time for new resolutions..........

But I'm sorry to say that I actually didn't make any resolutions related to my weight loss challenge.  Don't get me wrong, I did make resolutions this year but just none related to weight loss.  I made resolutions related to my work life, social life, and personal life.  The new year came and all I thought I needed to do for weight loss was to stick with working towards my overall goal. 

Through this whole process I've been able to figure out what I need to do to be successful and what I shouldn't do too.  This whole experience so far has been very challenging.  It changes day by day and sometimes even hour by hour.  I can be on track and motivated in the morning only to end up way out in left field by the end of the day.  I've been making different weight loss resolutions each week for the past seven months.  And that is the beauty of it all.  I'm lucky to have realized to be successful in my weight loss goals I have to be flexible.  If I wasn't flexible, I've would have given up a long long time ago.  I've failed at many of my different resolutions along the way.  I still drink Diet Coke regularly.  I still don't get physical activity daily.  I still eat unhealthy things.  BUT I exercise more than I did before.  I still say "no thank you" to things that I know I shouldn't eat.  And I am still working towards my overall goal.  And that is AWESOME!

The year mark for my weight loss challenge is Memorial Day weekend.  I am sitting at 27 pounds lost (had some bad weeks with vacation/ holidays/ illness/ etc).  I hope to be able to say on Memorial Day weekend that I am at 50 pounds weight loss.  That's the current goal and I hope to achieve it and then keeping going down from there.  So to all of you who have made New Year resolutions, keep up the good work.  If you are failing at your goal so far, don't give up.  Be flexible!  Re-evaluate your plan, make some adjustments, and keep going.  If you never try then you will have to accept defeat in the end.  Accepting defeat is not fun, so get to work!  We're all awesome and I know that together with each other's support (I'm so lucky to have all the support and followers with this blog) we can achieve anything!