I need to get back at it, I need to get focused again. I think that some of my focus went away last week (though I had this nagging in the back of my head) because I was frantically trying to get work done, get my quarterlies done and I was flying around here crazy. Anyhow today is a new day, today is Sunday which is better than Monday but I am going to try to be healthy, eat healthy, maybe get some exercise in today.
What things look like for me this week:

Sunday: Probably a walk with the dogs, some other exercises that I can do at home
Monday: Probably a walk with the dogs, some other exercises that I can do at home (I hate not being able to go to the gym, though this may change as well. Looking into a prospect maybe this week. **HOPEFULLY this week**
Tuesday: Workout
Wednesday: Workout
Thursday: Workout
Friday: Workout
Saturday: Probably a walk with the dogs, some other exercises that I can do at home
Sunday: Probably a walk with the dogs, some other exercises that I can do at home

I think that I just need to put my best foot forward and move ahead and do it. I keep coming up with excuses, I was too tired to get out of bed. Then I need to do it after work and take the consequence of getting home later cause I was too lazy to workout in the morning. But com'on I have to focus on what it is that I want, what it is that I need to do.

Hopefully I will be looking more Phit and Phabolous soon!!!! I just need to do it, I need to do for me! So I feel better! I think that I am going to print out my goals and do it, I am going to get posted everywhere, including my car so I remember!

Hope everyone has a great rest of their Sunday!

Excited!!! My friend, Melisa and I had lunch on Thursday. We were talking about loosing weight and she said that she was thinking of WW. So this coming Wednesday, we are going to go join up for Weightwatchers meetings. I am really really excited. Seems like a lot of things are starting to workout for being able to loose weight.

Woohoo!!!! I will keep everyone up to date on my weight loss!

This week has not been a good week for me to get out there and exercise. I have been VERY stressed at work and I feel like I am letting everyone down including myself. I hope to be able to stay moving this weekend and not be a lazy couch potato.

We are also going to my inlaws for dinner on Saturday so I am really going to watch "portion" size and try to make some healthy decisions while Im up there :)

Here are a few articles I read that I wanted to share. Enjoy reading :)

Time and time again I overhear someone saying: I used to workout but ever since I stopped, my muscles just turned into fat. Does this happen? Let's set the record straight...
Lucky for us, this is not how muscles and fat work. Basically a muscle is a muscle and fat is fat, one can never be the other. Muscles are what moves your body so therefore without muscles, your body would not be able to move at all. Muscles use fat for energy to contract (move your body). This is why the more muscle you build, the more fat that is used up -- Don't worry though, this doesn't mean you need to become the Incredible Hulk in order to burn fat, you just need to work your muscles.

Isn't that good news? Now get out there and do some resistance training already.

-------------

Strength Training IS Important for Weight Loss

Thu, 04/19/2007 - 1:30pm by FitSugar

Losing weight (and keeping it off) is more complicated than the calories you eat being less than the calories you burn. Without strength training while dieting you risk losing lean muscle mass which is really important to keep your metabolism going.

Your muscles need energy to work, so the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn over the course of a day. It works like this, for every pound of muscle you gain you will burn 35 to 50 more calories a day. Now that has got to be great incentive to add strength training into your routine if you are trying to lose weight.

Here is another inspirational fact for strength training to build lean muscle: we lose 5% of our muscle mass every ten years after age 35. If you do not intentionally build muscle through exercise you will need to eat 120 to 420 less calories a day to maintain your current weight if you are over 35. I just want to say it is never to early to start building lean muscle - no need to wait until you are 35. So why not start today?

There are so many advantages to strength training, including: benefits to your bones and cardiovascular health, reducing risk of Type 2 diabetes, and protecting your joints.

The first picture is 9 years ago and I thought I was fat, then 7 years ago, and I thought I was fat now I look at myself and I am like WOW!!!!! I dont want to be any bigger. It scares me!!

Today, Vince said with all the love but he was looking at old movies of us when we were first married and I was wearing shorts. Now, my legs are scared of coming out in shorts, they like to be hidden behind the clothing.

Well to a new me and a new life!!!!!! And to allow the sun to see my legs again! )

Today, I walked for 20 mins even though it was raining and windy. My dogs weren't too hapy over walking in the rain either but they did good. I am trying to keep moving, keep on track, not let myself to quit ... cause I am on my way to a new a life. :)

For awhile now, I have seen ads for the races that are for "breast cancer awareness" and different ones like that and I have wanted to do it but I have failed at training, signing up for it or anything. So I want to make this one of my goals that I do this year is be a part of a race. My only challenge that I currently have is that the race that I would want to do is the same weekend as Corrine's boot camp. :) So we will see how things go, the closer they come but I think with the training of Corrine and more that I will be able to be ready if I don't do the boot camp. :)

I am also looking ahead, what do I want to do next year, where do I want to be next year this time?

I wrote my sister and told her that we need to do Bloomsday (www.bloomsdayrun.org). We did this 3 years in a row back when I was younger and we always had fun. We didn't run the whole way but we would walk, jog and we are both fast walkers so it was always a good little clip :) I told her that we should make it a girls weekend. Head over, get there on Friday night, hang out Saturday, walk/ jog the Bloomsday race (12k=7.46 miles) then rest up on Monday together. :) We had one weekend back when I was younger and it was our special little thing, we would count on every year so I want to get it back in our lives and its something healthy for us to do :)

I think that if I have these type of things in front of me, a race or something I can concentrate on a goal in mind, a deadline, something to achieve and along the way loose some weight as well.

This years goals for now:
- Breast cancer awareness race (if not in TN)
- Corrine's Boot camp

Next year goals that I have in mind today:
- Bloomsday Run (First weekend in May, so it will be May 4th, 2008)
- Breast Cancer Awareness (usually Sept/ October)

Hopefully with these goals in mind, I will stay focused. Off to get the podcast for Couch to 5k on my ipod! :)

Oh before I go, here there is an awesome link on goals that my trainer shared with me, take some time and read it, You will be happy you did. :)

A quote from the page: "Writing goals and plans down on paper is the first step towards achieving them. As Tony Robbins says, “If you talk about it, it’s a dream, if you envision it, it’s possible, but if you schedule it, it’s real.” when every part of your fitness and nutrition program is put into writing, this ONE discipline alone has the potential to literally skyrocket your results…"

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2007/04/turbo_charge_your_training_jou.php

Today I "tested" a new gym in my area (by my work) to see if I would be able to get more out of my workout than where I was going before. I do think that I might be able too. I have a two week test run and so I am going to try it for two weeks and see how it goes. I hate to sign up and then not like it.

I did my workout this morning (thanks Corrine). I am really hoping that I will be able to stay on this and that I will lose weight. I see these girls in the gym complaining about being fat and I think to myself you have no idea lady! (they are like a size 4). Anyhow the workout was good, the gym was good. :) I think for now that I am going to join the gym, stay with WW, stay on with Corrine and hopefully start seeing the #s melt away.

The weekend is coming, Monday I work in the 'couv so I don't get to workout at the gym but my plans are not to not workout but just do what I can around the house, maybe take the girls on a walk, play some basketball or something. I just don't want to quit moving, I have been moving for over a week and it feels good. :)

Its official. Ol' Jazz has rest. You've been a good friend, we will miss you. Love you ol' buddy!

Packing around an extra 50#. Whats the big deal some people will say? How hard is it on your body you might wonder? My conclusion was yesterday coming home from the airport. My suitcase was just around 50# and it was huge AND heavy. I almost couldn't stand up carrying it. When we were waiting for my father in law to pick us up, I said "phew this thing is heavy. I am glad that I dont have to carry it around everywhere" Then as I was sitting on my suitcase, waiting I thought basically that is what I am carrying around with me everyday, a huge suitcase. I have 50# to lose and I am here carrying this bag around with me. No wonder my body gets angry with me.
It was a hard resolization but it really hit home, that I need to get arid of this extra baggage (literally) and move on wiht my life more in shape.

So today I jumped on the scale and jumped back off and thought, I dont like you mr. scale. You are not my friend today but I know that I made decisions to eat bad food while on a vacation having the mind set "Im on vacation". So its my own fault.

Anyhow now that I have rambled on for a bit, I have to go ahead and get ready and go to work. :) Today, I did skip my workout as its was a VERY emotional day last night and I couldnt get up in a few hours with have cried my eyes out so I will just plan on a harder workout tomorrow. :)

Until my next thought :)

goodbye jazzier

Today when we got picked up at the airport, we were told that Jazz my husbands childhood dog of 16 years was going to be put asleep tomorrow. When we were over there saying goodbye to him, he whimpered and cried, it was really tough. Especially cause I know how much Vincent and him love each other. Its hard for me, I dont really know why but maybe cause I am really attached to animals and I dont know how to say goodbye or something. But to you Jazz, you have been a great dog for Vince. I know that he will always love you and miss you! Take care buddy!!!! You always have a spot in our hearts. Heres something I wrote to you ....


Sometimes we gain a friend through a pet, they are the ones that are always there for us when we need someone the most. They bring joy to our hearts, comfort for sorrows, ease the fears we have in life.

When we must say goodbey to our ddear friends, its always hard to do. They are more than a pet, they are a part of our family, someone who we have come to love and know. Each one has their own personality and have touched us in some way in our lives.

But as we say goodbye, we only say goodbye becuase we want them to be comfortable, not in pain but its not easy for us because we are going to miss them and we have pain in our own hearts. We will cherish the memories we have, we will hold them dear to our hearts,

To you Jazzie we love you and will miss you. You will always have a part of our hearts and lives that we have lead. You have been there in big ways for some (ie your daddy who loves you very much) and some of us who you just touched by being a good dog. We will love you forever and cherish you in our hearts and memories.

To you ol' buddy!

walking around SFO and I am ready to come home!!! sigh. I hope we get this flight standby at 4:20. that would be nice. huh?

miss home .... miss my pups .... homesick is the feeling i have!

im out guys! hopefully catching a flight soon!

A proud moment for myself today! I went to the gym here in SFO and I was on the treadmill. Now for the last couple days, I have been doing it but I have been doing the pace at 3.5 and if I try to up it at all its like 3.8 and feels like I am going to drag my feet!!! So today, I cranked the baby up for 4.5 and jogged, yes jogged for about 5 mins then I thought my heart could explode so I went back down to 3.5 but then it felt like I was walking too slow so I bumped it up to 3.8!!!! I did this. I jogged two times today. The first time it was for 5 mins and the second time, I could only last 3.5 mins but I made an accomplishment. I see how I am getting a little stronger with my body, now its time to focus on the willpower. :)

I am excited about my training, I have made my mind up that I need to do this. I can't be carrying around an extra 40 to 50lbs everyday. No wonder my feet hurt, my back hurts, my legs hurt. Think of it this way, if you were carrying around a child on your back that much everyday, sleeping on top of you, no matter where you go you have this extra 50lbs on you, makes it more difficult to turn around with having your butt in the way, or to sit comfortably on an airplane or anything. I have been thinking more and more about this. I don't want to destroy my body by not working out. There is no reason for it. So today, I make the commitment to CONSCIENCELLY watch my diet, watch everything that goes in my mouth, makes sure that its really worth the points. I did today, eat a piece of zucchini bread at Starbucks (Bad and my only excuse is that I didn't have dinner last night, I walked my husband down to his expo and I was starving and felt fainty.) I should have made a better decision on the bread but I didn't and its a lesson learned and will hopefully not be repeated!

I have some new goals in my life that I am excited to jump on when I get home. As I am walking around SFO, I think to myself what is it that I am trying to gain. The answer: a fuller life. You don't need your stomach to be fuller but life enjoying life at its fullest will be easier, more attainable as I become phit! :) I told my husband next time we are in SFO that I will be jogging around the city for my exercise, the gym will be my friend and I will hopefully have lost my weight and be able to run circles without being exhausted. Though, I have to admit, I may be overweight but I see myself in a better position than some, I see myself in better shape than some that are even smaller than me cause though the scales, sizes do mean something, the shape, the physical shape I am in is that meaning of life more to me. I would be happy in a size 10 if that meant that I could kick some serious booty! :)

Now that I have rambled on and on, Its time to shower, pack my bags (I'm ready to go, I stand outside the door ....) and get moving for the rest of the day in SFO before my flight leaves at 6pm :)

I got to ride the trolley!!! Woohooo! That was so much fun! :) :) I am glad that we did it. Its expensive ride but but was still fun to do.

Well today is my last day in SFO. I am excited to get home, to see my pups, to be able to get strict with my diet and exercise program. Its not that I couldnt do certain things or have certain choices, I just choice not to eat the best. Why? Cause I was being lazy and I thought, I was on vacation. Yesterday ---- cotton candy and a free cone from Ben and Jerry's. Though, I shouldnt have, I did.

When I got back to the hotel and read Corrine's blog, I was kicking myself in the butt!!!! She has it down pat. Read this entry of vacation and you will see why I am kicking my butt!!!
http://phitnphat.wordpress.com/2007/04/17/making-good-dining-out-choices-while-on-vacation/

So for my farwell to SFO, I am going to go to the gym, workout harder than I did yesterday. Why? I need too and I want too.

See you back in Oregon!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, I walked down to the gift shop in the afternoon and I was in my workout clothes but I really wanted a diet pop so I walked down there. The gal said "you workout?" in a strong accent. I said "yes I did earlier" She proceed to say "I wear similar things when I go to the gym." I said "good luck" She said "My friend lost so much weight and she is now fit and pretty unlike me and you who are fat." This did crush my spirit a little. I mean I know that I am not fit and I know that I am not the prettiest but it crushed my spirit cause I just worked my butt off at the gym with Corrine's workout and I thought I wasn't going to be able to walk back to the hotel and then she said that ..... I just about died!

Anyhow today my spirit though a little crushed, pushed forward and went and worked out. I did Corrine's workout for #1 cause I am in a gym I don't know and I wanted to get something done and there were so many people around, it was hard to get around today. But I did do it. :)


I hope everyone is having a great day and I hope that all are able to stay on track. Well I'm off to walk around SFO as this is my last day really here and I want to go and get a few more pictures before I leave! :)

Make it a great day!!!!!!

Top 10 Ways to Inspire People

I am posting this because I am a person who wants to inspire people by me doing my exercises and my lifetime diet but then again I want to be inspired. Here is something I read by American Council on Exercise and I wanted to share.


Top 10 ways to Inspire People:

1. Be a role model. Set an example by inviting friends to walk with you or take an exercise class after work.

2. Make fitness fun. Some people prefer to play games rather than exercise. Make the idea of exercising a game in itself and offer rewards for participation or meeting certain goals.

3. Be both active and productive. It's possible to be both active and productive by doing activities that accomplish a task while also using energy, such as walking the dog to the store to buy a newspaper, mowing the lawn, biking to work, or walking to school.

4. Make workouts short and sweet. Who says exercise has to take up a lot of time? Knock out this excuse by showing others how easy it is to exercise in short blocks of time spread throughout the day.

5. Extol the benefits. Research shows that people who exercise live longer, healthier lives than those who don't. In fact, exercise is the closest thing you'll find to the fountain of youth.

6. Train for a charity event together. Get fit and raise money for a good cause. For some, its easier to be motivated to exercise if its done for a larger cause.

7. Set short-term goals. Encourage friends to reward themselves by setting and achieving short-term fitness goals.

8. Offer to be a workout partner. If someone knows you're counting on them, they're more likely to show up for workout.

9. Use inspiration music. Nothing perks up a workout faster than upbeat music. Research shows that listening to one's favorite music while exercising makes it easier to exercise longer and more intensely while making workouts more enjoyable.

10. Don't preach, lecture or nag. The worst thing you can do is shame someone into exercising. Instead, create opportunities to exercise and make it as fun as possible.

a new journey?

"If I haven't given my all and still do not win, I haven't lost. Others might remember winning or losing; I will remmeber the journey."

I find this inspiring as I believe that we do not need to be in this journey for winning or loosing. Many people fail on a diet when they are being competetive because people might get discouraged that someone is loosing more than them or they dont see the results like others may. I think that we all need to remember why we are on this journey of life and remember that we are all winners within ourself! :)

I just wanted to share my thoughts!!!

The rest of my sunday in SFO

This afternoon, I walked around and went into a few department stores. I couldn't believe that Ross and OLD Navy were 3 stories high! I was like my favorite stores and 3 levels.
I meant Vincent at his expo at lunch, we decided that we would go to a movie this afternoon. We went and saw "Blades of Glory" .... it was so funny!! I was dying!! It was nice to go to the movies with Vince. You should have seen the movie theater, it was awesome. There was like 3 or 4 restaurants inside, there was a couple stores inside as well, a Starbucks and a few other things! I just couldn't believe it, I have never seen anything like it before.

For dinner, we went to this place called "Lefty's O'Douls" that was a few doors down from our hotel. Its an Irish Pub and restaurant. They had cafeteria style dinner. I ended up having a salad and I ate Vincent's roll. After there, we walked down to Starbucks to grab a coffee and yummy dessert. I didn't really need it but I didn't really feel satisfied after dinner.

Well now we are in our hotel for the night, just hanging out and resting. :) Its the earliest we have been in all weekend so that is kind of nice! :) Hope to get a nice sleep tonight as I have been really tired!

just my sunday here in sfo

When you look around and view people on the streets, you see either people who are obviously health conscience (those taking care of the bodies, looking good, eating healthy, water in hand) then you see others who are chowing down a burger who look like their legs couldn't carry them a step further and I ask myself where do I want to be? Now and where do I want to be in 10 years? Do I want to be the person people look up too and say "I want to be like her" or do I want to be the person who people are like "damn sister, put down the burger and go for a walk" and have no desire to look up too. I am not trying to be conceded but I do want to be more of a role model of what is right. For myself, for my family, for my future children. There is a problem here in America where too many people are overweight. I believe the statics are 65% of Americans are overweight not by a few lbs but majorly overweight! I am not saying that I am ever going to be perfect but I sure can try to be healthier. Its kind of like a drug, you get addicted to a certain lifestyle whether that be a healthy one or an unhealthy one. You choose? You choose for your children as well! As you walk through life, the choices you make, are choices that can be imitated by young minds.

I am here in SFO at the moment and I am trying desperately to be more healthy. I have it in my head that I want to be but I have to kick the devil off my shoulder and do it! Right now, I can afford to loose 40+ lbs and that is sad but that happy part is that I am taking steps (literally too) to make a better life for myself! A) I am committed to working out 4-5 times weekly. I have joined up with an awesome trainer, Corrine that is going to hopefully kick this butt into shape. B) I have re-joined and re-committed to WW (I believe that this program is the closest thing that is to a lifestyle change instead of a crash diet). C) I have made this decision and commitment to myself and to my family because by me, I hope that my family will see and make the changes as well. Don't you love your family enough to help them become healthy too?

I have family health issues that I don't want to get! Many people in my family on both sides have heart disease, cancer and etc and I don't want to be a victim of a disease that hopefully through diet and exercise that I can reduce.

With all that being said here is my day so far in SFO! I walked about 15 mins to a expo center with my husband this morning so we can get him off to his conference. Then, I came back to the hotel, got my free pass to gym that is up the road (literally uphill) and worked out for 30-40 mins there! Now, I am going to walk around SFO for the next hour or two until my hubby is done with his conference and I will be enjoying a healthy salad for lunch.

This is only one day of many days on my journey to a healthier life.

Wine Country

Today was our last day with the rental car here in SFO so we decided to drive up and see some wine country. We never did make it to Napa but we were in Sonoma area. We went to some really cool wineries! One of them was this Italian and it was awesome, words can't describe it really! Made me really want to focus a trip to go to Italy! :) It was great. We decided to stay there, eat some food and look out on the vineyards! It was beautiful!

We did taste some good wines. We bought a bottle of this one and it was just like having candy, very sweet and tasty! I can't wait to try some more later! *Wink, wink*

Everything here has been great except for the cost! Wow, its expensive here and now you know why you have poor, homeless people all over the city! How can they afford to live, to eat, to survive! Its sad to see an old man, digging in the garbage for food! I want to just run up to him, take him by the hand and give him something to eat! How sad this world is!

I did find this cute little sushi place just next to our hotel, good food, cheap prices and great atmosphere. They had brown rice sushi. It was interesting! It was good but it has its own flavor! :)

Its been another great day in SFO but I honestly can't wait to get home, be with my puppies again! I sure do miss them!

Arrived in SFO!

I can't believe it! We are here in SFO! I am so excited! Today was a great day! We went and saw the SFO bridge (and I got to drive across it) it was really exciting! Then we went to some ritzy little town called Sauslito. It was a cute town. We sat by the water looked over and saw the bridge, the prision and hand a great little Italian lunch! It was wonderful! Oh they have this street called "Princess street" so of course I had to get my picture taken with it!
The traffic here in SFO is crazy (crazy driving makes me so happy ... its like my calling), let me tell you that! I was just like "wooww!!! " but it was fun! Then we went to SFO and got some awesome shots! We drove through Chinatown. I drove up this one hill that was so steep that you couldnt see the top until you were coming over it, it was crazy but cool too!

For dinner, we went down to Peir 39 and had dinner! We had these wonderful garlic french fries and I had shrimp, so yummy!!!!!!! :) I will be posting pictures !!!!

It has been a great day here so far! I have enjoyed coming to SFO with Vince. I am glad that I decided to come and hang out here with him!!!!! I am just in love with him and the city!!!!!

I did fall for my weakness of french fries and cotton candy but that is ok cause I plan on walking a lot of this off! :)

PS pretty excited, I was suppose to pay for my gym membership $10/ per visit but the welcome letter said that we get the passes for free!! woohoo. Thanks hotel! Thanks Intel! :) I will take advantage of that Sunday-Wednesday!

Packed or maybe its overpacked. I am packed and ready to go to SFO tomorrow morning. I have a few short hours left at home to be able to get some shut eye before we leave.

I think I have a few too many shoes, or really can you have too many shoes. Is 7 pairs really too many?? :) I hate to be without choices so I will bring a few too many. :) Also, I have my new book for my training in my hands so I can read up and get familar with my exercises.

I plan on going to the gym once or twice during the time we are there. Its $10 per visit but it would be worth it. Right? I am trying to tell myself that! :) :)

Until tomorrow ..........

PS Syd and Crick, mama loves you and gonna miss her little pups. I wish I could pack you in my bags and take you! I love you guys!! Be good for uncle thomas and gramma and grampa :) ***KISSES***