The indentation on the left (right when you look @ the screen) is not an accident. That hair twisting, pulling when nervous habit I have kicked into overdrive last week after an argument w/a fam member. So while the cut was a vague idea after seeing V for Vendetta, by last weekend I had to do it.

Hmmm...perhaps subconsciously I wanted to go short and if I messed it up enough, I'd force myself to do so...

Before

major haircut ahead (:59 secs/9 kb)

Just Washed

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Made changes invisible to the naked eye but it makes my life a helluva lot easier, esp w/the podcast page. I'd tell ya what I did but then I'd have to disappear ya

Too busy tonight to work on anything else, comments are kinda sorta working the way i want, code is up the look and feel still needs work, cont reading link is still a bust, tomorrow is a wash to get anything done.

i'll be back @ it thurs & fri and pretty much the entire weekend so I should have the major stuff done by sunday and back to my gabfest come monday. If you're wondering how the haircut *cough*today's podcast*cough* went, I'll have a follow up and pictures up by tomorrow night.

"We must not give only what we have; we must give what we are." - Cardinal Mercia

down

Posting will be very light this week. If anything it'll all be techie site related stuff as I have my coding hat on. Plus it's driving me crazy that the site isn't matching. I barely want to look @ it, much less post.

Anywayz, a big coup on the front page was I've had a JavaScript error message for eons and whatever I did yesterday made it go away. I had to pretend not to see it, another thing that drove me crazy. I also streamlined some of the stuff on the front page, while others got expanded. All it all it's a way smaller file than before. I also modified the CSS so the gray bar extends to the bottom, I didn't like that is stopped when the content stopped and the way the CSS is layered, the white middle comes up first. It's a minor thing but when the front loaded before, w/it being so huge, the white background was the last to load, so any directory that did a screenshot always had a big space in the middle that only showed the stripped background. Yea, minor.

The white empty square will be filled w/something. Now I'm not sure what. When I first did the design, I was going to put a weigh down chart, but w/the Kick My Ass thing coming up, I don't want to be jumping back and forth, and the pudge pics will be coming back on a regular basis, though not posted here daily, so I have a bit of a puzzle to figure out in the next few days. I don't think I'll get a chance to work on anything this evening or tomorrow. So mid week to weekend I s'pose.

In other startling news, HOLY MOLY, are you kidding me 30+ people listen to the podcast!?!?! Shyte! Last time, about 2-3 weeks ago, I had that little bean counter up it said zero, granted the show was brand spanking new, but with the design I needed to balance out the graphics above it, so I put it back expecting no more than 5, where I know of @ least one person, Hiya Debbi! and figured the other 4 would be me especially since I subscribed to my own show in various directories

But 30? I had to rub my eyes, hard. I thought the coding finally burned out my retinas. Wowza. Now it make sense why my hosting company sent me that friendly bandwidth warning which last time I got one, resulted in seeing this page a few days later:

30 eh? Nice ::rubs palms:: To the 30, don't pay attention to the barely detectable music in the background nor my melodic voice. In no way shape or form am I attempting to mind control the blogosphere in my master plan to take over the world via word, voice and eventually face (when I vidblog, oh there will be vidblogging) all in a grand scheme to make every. single. person. fit. *muhahahahaha* *choke* *hahahahahaaaaaa*

Where was I? Oh, so now I feel the urge to make it a real production. I'm still working on getting background music, another weight loss blogger has a podcast too and he used the theme to Rocky in his show [so jealous] I'm tempted to use tunes I like but will be an angry camper if in a few months I get warnings from the music industry and have over 75 files to go back and fix. So, I'll stick w/the royalty free.

Just to refresh memories, the plan is to podcast for the next 100 days, it serves a few purposes, mainly to get me used to the equipment. Like by the end of last week I didn't even need to read my notes, I knew what settings to use. And I worked out the kinks of the bad mic on my own. As I do it daily, I'll play around w/the software, and along the way figure out how to set up tracks for my theme song and bumper music. After a 100 days, I'll prolly do it on a weekly basis @ least, where, I dunno, depending on where I'm @ weight wise, I'll offer tips and suggestions and ideas on...um...things... I said I dunno

Then by the end of the year, when I'm in school, hee!, I'll have a real show. Where I'll give more *ahem* professional* advice and real world examples based on what I see and learned and tie it in to my experience. As w/all things, we shall see how it goes.

Today's show will get posted later tonight and will be a two part cliff hanger, wherein part 1 I babble about a dream I had this morning involving Nicole Richie and Joaquin Phoenix and part 2 will answer the question, did she workout today?

"Create the kind of self you will be happy to live with all your life." - Foster C. McClellan

update - the front page is pretty much done as far as the reorg and layout, code works, test in firefox looks fine. even validates except for an odd error that is due to the entry i wrote not the page, it'll fall off the front page so i'll leave it alone. i have to get comments and cont reading links fixed then i'm really done. will do archived pages throughtout the week and finally the generic contact and about me page, etc. i may not get to those till the weekend so i took off the links for now. off to bed, more tinkering tomorrow.

****

I'm not sure how many peeps go nosin' around the site, but eagle eyes will notice 2 things:

1) The link to my food journal has returned
2) Despite the fact that the training journal was dusted off on 1/28/06, it wasn't *used* again till 3/11/06, don't count the days, I don't wanna know.

189.6lbs

I'm not the average girl from your video
and I ain't built like a supermodel
I'm learning to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen

[snip]

When I look in the mirror and the only one there is me
my face is exactly as it's supposed to be
And I know our creator didn't make no mistakes on me
My feet, my thighs, my lips, my eyes; I'm lovin' what I see

Lyrics to Video by India.Arie (modified slightly to reflect me)

"To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Availabilty
Sweet potatoes are cured for long-term storage so that they are available year-round. They are at their best from late August to October, when fresh, uncured potatoes are harvested and come to market.

How to Select:
Choose sweet potatoes that are firm and do not have any cracks, bruises or soft spots. Avoid those that are displayed in the refrigerated section of the produce department since cold temperature negatively alters their taste.

Sweet potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark and well-ventilated place, where they will keep fresh for up to ten days. They should be stored loose and not kept in a plastic bag. Keep them away from exposure to sunlight or temperatures above 60°F since this will cause them to sprout or ferment. Uncooked sweet potatoes should not be kept in the refrigerator.

As I'm sure most of you are aware there is no Dr. in front of my name or MD behind it, so what I post here is always things I've researched, via google most times, asked my own doctor and follow my gut on.

Some things I know I should do but for various personality reasons or it may be a future future goal, I don't do, like stretching. So what I posted about water, mostly comes from what I've learned about it in recent years, but mainly b/c in my gut, I just believe it's a good thing for me to do. I'm not that thrilled to stretch so I tend to find sources to back up my inner belief by saying stretching is overrated. All that to say, you can find anything to justify your position on the net. I thought I'd share some of my sources for where my POV came from:

From what I've read, 64 oz per day is suggested. When a person is overweight, it's also suggested they drink 8oz for every 25lbs they are overweight and for heaver exercisers or those who live in warm climates and/or workout outdoors 8oz for every hour of exercise.

[snip]

As for the overdose, I read about that too, based on what I read, it was people drinking way more water than that and doing more extreme exercising, think marathon runners, for a longer period of time. It's quite rare while I'm manic, I'm not a maniac about it

"Discontent is the first step in progress. No one knows what is in him till he tries, and many would never try if they were not forced to." - Basil Maturin

Last time I reviewed this product, let's see if my major concerns were reassured.

Pluses:
* Fairly expensive, need coupons or 2 for 1 deal as incentive.
Nope, still expensive


* Having no likka, makes you feel like a child eating plain old Jell-O.
Jello-o still alcohol free, no chance of doing shots during lunch


* WTF is up w/1500 mgs of sodium, aren't you trying to save my heart?
WoW you are trying to save my heart, 920mg of sodium


* Kraft, I so get it. It's your brand. You own good ole Dr. Agatston. It's understood: He sold his soul to you. Point made. Enough w/the branding for chrisesakes.
Either I'm now a mindless zombiefied consumer OR you've toned down on the packaging, I barely noticed.

Ok, enough of the flashback/update, let's get to the nitty gritty, how was it?

2 weeks ago I bulked up on fiber, last week I did the power workouts...this week...I'm aiming for 150oz of water per day or to make my piss the color of light lemonade.

"How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours." - Wayne Dyer

No dearheart I didn't misspell the word kiss

If you've been reading my site for a few months, you may remember I posted a dream of going to school to become a personal trainer. I even went as far as to lay out my plan on financing it and then for many reasons never mentioned it again. I went thru an emotionally bad phase @ the end of the last year, I wanted to focus on paying off my cc debt and most importantly despite the fact that I'm an only child I'm not spoiled and am always a bit uncomfortable @ the concept of something for nothing. Things I was handed, I took for granted, it's the things I made huge sacrifices to get that I cherish the most.

But mainly it was my size. I felt I had no right to train anyone when I was gaining weight in leaps and bounds. Until I trained me, I couldn't walk the talk.

This week, as I'm taking care of business, I'm having a lot of epiphanies, especially after watching The Biggest Loser and hitting the gym the next AM where I ran .61 miles vs. the .5 I planned mostly b/c I loved the song I was running to and I was super motivated by those woman. I started getting all sorts of ideas on how I'd combine my inner Jillian w/my inner Bob and really be a kick ass personal trainer.

The desire to go back to school hit me like a brick and in that moment I knew this is the year to make it a reality.

Things never go as planned and my original fantasy was I'd be in school by April. Not gonna happen. Then I settled for July, still a financial unreality and a hectic mess b/c I'm not sure where in Atlanta I'll be living. So there's October, which will make me ready for all the gym n00bs come January.

As an only child, my mother didn't spoil me @ least not in the traditional sense. She didn't shower me w/gifts, just about everything I have I earned outright or @ least had to come up w/½ upfront. She started that when I was 9 and wanted to buy my first video game, I had to save my allowance each week and a month later had enough to splurge. She did that w/my first car, I had to come up with $1750 and she kicked in the rest. She did pay off my first college loans, by the time I got to college #5 I felt I had to prove I was serious and went thru one of the hardest times of my life trying to stay in school not asking for any help. Yet, it is my pride and joy to know I earned my degree in more ways than one.

What I'm about to propose here is no different than the above. At this moment I don't have the $6000 to do the program. I don't even have $600 or $60 for that matter, though I *could* scare up $.60 from my piggy bank. But, before I ask a virtual community for help, and why I'd never be good @ though I tried, running an online begging site, I gotta do what I do best, do my part upfront: Me invest in me, prove that I'm serous and only then if someone is moved to help, will I feel comfortable accepting it.

To show how dedicated and motivated I am to go to school to help other people get fit and healthy I am going to do 2 things, in two parts. Thing #1 will be a fairly easy now and much harder in part two and Thing #2 will be financially hard now a little easier in part two.

@ the end of June, I'll lay out where I'm @ and open the site up for whatever assistance people deem to give, if any. Reading me for a while you'll know if nothing else, I'm creative so I'll have some ways to help directly or some ways where you'll get something out of it too. As for the Things, here's my plan:

Last time I posted this quote I acknowledged I too have heard it attributed to two sources, and b/c I love it so much always knew I'd repost it and credit the other source, as I'm doing today.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us. It is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." - Marianne Williamson

Made the following observation today, it's a given to run into one of these three things on TeeVee @ insane AM:

- Preachers
- Fast or drastic weight loss pill or product
- Get rich quick scheme

If I could just find a way to make a single product that gives people religion, slimmer thighs and money, I do believe I'll be richer than Oprah.

It's a bit late in the game to post this, but since I'm not making any radical changes when Q2 starts, this is my official eats plan for now thru early summer.

Nothing too fancy, as I sketched out what I wanted, it was really easy to make a meal plan. I'm telling you, even when you feel like a failure b/c everything you worked months doing goes belly up, that experience really comes in handy, b/c @ the precise point in the road where you fucked up, next go round you know to veer in another direction. Unless of course, you are insane.

What I wanted this meal plan to be was very basic, lots of fruits and veggies, 5 meals a day, eating every 3 hours and w/in 1200-1500 calories. That way if I stay in the 1200 range during the week, I can safely go into or over the 1500 range over the weekend. I also allow myself 1 day to peak @ 1800.

B/c I'm a flexible kinda chick, I've broken it down even further.

Doughy is the word I was looking for.

Soft and squishy all over, from my ankle bone, which is no longer prominent, to my kneecap. I took measurements two weekends ago and even my freaking forearm went up an inch. That that 13lb gain yielded me a layer of pudge in such an annoying spot that my squishy bicep mushed against it.

There's a Jell-O commercial w/a little boy and a cow both doing the snake dance, aka the move Chris Tucker made famous in Rush Hour. @ the end of the commercial they just show the chocolate Jell-O quivering back and forth. That is me to a tee.

Chocolaty and Jiggly.

Crikey.

"It's always too early to quit." - Norman Vincent Peale

Heh, that title should make for some interesting google hits.

Legs I mean.

Stiff ones are good.

Still talking legs here.

You knew that.

In the back of my head, I dedicated the power week to my She-Ro and as of today Hell Week is over, it feels like I hazed my own damn self. Here are the stats, you may have to read them thru your fingers as they're not for the faint of heart:

total mins sweated: 537 or 72 mins/day
total miles hoofed: 23.61 or 3.37 miles/day

lbs melted away: 3.6

Was it worth it? Hell fuckin' yea. Enough to do it again, Dude did you not read the screen?!?!? Open your fingers...3.6lbs melted away, damn skippy I'll do it again for 20 more weeks to be @ my goal that much faster!!!

I keed...I keed...

I didn't work out like a demon solely for a huge net a loss, but b/c I missed week 1 start date and didn't want, once again, to push my schedule back another week so things could be perfect. I looked @ the doubling up not as a punishment, but as a penalty. My penalty to me for missing the official back-on-track-for-good-this-time start date.

The penalty idea came about due to my thing for sports related movies...such as Miracle, Coach Carter or even recently Glory Road.

"What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Persevere." – Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong

No more double eps of Full House for me, Jeff Foxworthy Show comes on first. Boo! Hard as it is to believe, I have not seen all the early Full House shows, today was the one where Deej wanted to get a horse and to prove her committment, she took care of it w/o complaints and and saved her money for two whole weeks, I'm going to refer back to this later this week.

Forgot to take my pen, it's always something, so had to remember the following #'s

152
10:40
.77
6.33
2
5/3.0
.11
1
106

See why below...

191lbs

"The more you prepare, the luckier you appear." - Terry Josephson

Note to self, short shorts just don't cut it for power AM workouts. Must get longer shorts.

Today was hella long and I hadn't planned on being out all day. Just about everything I ate didn't get logged in advance nor do I know the actual calories so here's all I ate.

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." – Michelangelo Buonarroti

I hinted that I'll be working on a redesign, nothing major, the site will still pretty much look the same and I'm sticking w/the seasonal color schemes, if you just joined me post December 21st, you'll have to keep visiting till after March 21st to get my drift.

One of the things I'm going to stop doing for the time being, b/c the new design will make it easier, is cross-posting when I've dropped a new podcast. Especially b/c I *may* get penalized in some podcast directories for posting the same mp3 file twice. If you just can't get enough of my voice, yet it's such a chore to click over to the other section, subscribe to the feed. Or just chill till Mid-Late March when the links to the latest episode will be automatically updated over here as well.

For the next 4 weeks, my morning run will be a ½ miler @ a nice leisurely pace of 2.5mph, which I'll gradually increase every so often. The last time I ran that distance, I thought I did it in 8 mins, so the plan was to get a playlist around that length of time and @ Jeni, I *finally* got around to coming up w/the playlist. Make that 2, to avoid boredom this week, I wanted some variety.

Popular convention is to share these files, but w/the podcast going (a new episode will be up Saturday) my bandwidth is getting its own workout (Hi-Ohhhhhhhh!). Once I get the hang of this, I'll post my playlists on a more regular basis and @ that point, I'll make them available for 24 hours. Hmmm...I s'pose I can make it up to you by humming the tunes in the upcoming podcast. No? Fine.

Well, in lieu of actually providing the songs for you to download, gather round as I regale you w/the story on why I ♥ each tune so much. Grab your hot cocoa, be sure to blow on it to cool it off a bit, can't have you burning you tongue now can I?

Comfy? Cozy? Good!

Here goes:

In my experience I believe things name themselves. Take my first and only pet kitty, when my mom brought her home she was the runt of the litter and a wee 3 months old. The moment her teeny paws touched ground she floored it to the farthest room in the house, ran behind the recliner and huddled in the corner. As we kneeled trying to coax her out of her hiding place, the sun shone on her white and tan fur, sorta sparkling like sunbeams and I turned to my mom and said her name is Sunshine.

Or my first car, that my boyfriend @ the time in a mysterious amount of good karma was very instrumental in helping me find, was named after he told me I was like a Teddy bear, and I dunno, in honor of him I s'pose I named her Teddy & it kinda stuck and fit.

Then there's my current car, who after tumultuous months that involved Teddy croaking and me totaling the car that replaced Teddy leading me to ride around in various expensive rentals, was named late one night as I drove down the highway following her to the airport. Unfortunately I was not her first driver, I had to return the expensive rental so the salesman drove her while I anxiously followed in order to take him back to work. As we navigated thru heavy rush hour traffic, I just felt so happy to finally be a car owner again and a huge wave of gratitude washed over me. Being so grateful for her, that and a subtle twist on her color gray, became her name: Graycee.

So in that tradition of naming things, and I always believed if I have a baby, I'll wait a few days and let the name come out of their personality, I know bad mother please don't called child services on me, you may remember my iPod is nameless. You know what's coming next dontcha?

Not only has she a name, but she has a story behind it to boot. Wanna hear it? Here it goes:

"It takes as much stress to be a success as it does to be a failure." - Emilio James Trujillo

Just to review how this works, liveblogging is actually a misnomer. I do my commentary as the show airs, aside from fixing blatant spelling errors or misspelling of a name, I post my thoughts as the show unfolds vs. a summary of the show.

Later, when NBC gets some pics up, I plug them in along w/the commentary and below the picture I note if I got my recap correct or some other sarcastic remark.

Now that that's all cleared up, let's begin:

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing—that's why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar

This week I'm doing power AM workouts, I'll expound upon 'em more next week. How powerful are they? Well currently, I'm wearing braids that nearly reach my middle to lower back.

My entire head, fake hair included, is soaked from root to tip. Perhaps this visual, I had to take 3 shots and combine them, will better make my point. Observe:

********

I'm going to be a bit of a bore the next few days as I whine, moan, spew, holler, yell, lament, pontificate, analyze, gripe, brag, boast, kvetch, whimper, harangue, groan, shout, declare, pout, discuss, fret, and just generally yada yada yada about how sore I am.

You've been warned.

********

Oh if you want to see the workout attire I chatted about:

For dinner tonight, I picked up a chef's salad from nearby cafeteria. Unfortunately there's no caloric info and strangely enough, fitday does not have any entries for chef's salad. Here's what it looks like:

I exaggerate about much, but when it comes to the reception of my TV, I do not kid. I'm way too cheap and way too broke to splurge on basic cable so here's what I deal w/on a daily basis, and why I don't watch much TV.

Keep in mind, this is what it looks like w/my newest antenna, the old one was much worse. W/the new one I actually get 7 of the 9 channels. Right around the time it let me be able to both see and hear CBS, I started getting hooked on Cold Case, W/o a Trace, CSI and 48 Hours.

Coincidence? I think not.

Continuing w/this week's theme of daily motivators for this week, today it comes in the form of Daniela. It's been almost 2 months since I saw her, yet I can't get the amazing progress she made (losing 40lbs) and the her 2 hours (in spite of being a single mom) in the gym, outta my head.

This morning, I didn't really *feel* like going to the gym, yesterday I slept in b/c I really worked it Monday and woke up wondering if overnight someone put me in a body cast, plus I knew I'd do a PM walk so my guilt was minimized.

This morning, Lazy Renee, tried to pull that stunt. "We are still in a body cast!" she screamed, and I *almost* listened. Went as far as to reset the alarm and roll back over pulling the covers over my head. But I remembered what's coming on TV later tonight and how I'd feel like a sloth, not working out, yet commenting on the show.

Oh and there will be liveblogging of tonight's show Navy wives vs. Marine wives. Hoo-ahh.

"The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running." - Anonymous

If they can put a man on the moon...

If they can make Oscar® dresses w/pockets...

I repeat, if they can make an Oscar® dress w/pockets...

Why oh why can't they make yoga pants w/pockets too?

You know that awkward in between stages your hair goes thru after a drastic cut? Too long for a cute pixie bob, too short for a ponytail? I'm in that phase as it relates to my sleep...the anxiety+insomnia zone.

I used to do wild & wacky stuff like food reviews...oh oh and food battles...and DVD reviews!?!?

Yea, me too.

They'll be back soon

"Your temporary inconvenience is only for permanent improvement!" – Gospel veteran Daryl Coley

Yesterday I spoke about being motivated to workout by knowing others were depending on me, today my motivation came from 3 unrelated sources.

Source #1 Harrison Ford, wait hear read me out.

I went to see Firewall last weekend, as the budding movie reviewer, any day now I'll get that domain and any sec now I'll get the reviews I've been mentally writing in my head to the 50 or so movies I've seen in the theater from mid November thru now and the last 20 or so DVDs I've watched, outta my head and onto paper.

Where was I?

Oh, I give Firewall 3 stars.

But for what Harrison Ford, who for all intense and purposes is a geriatric, did...I give him 5.

There were 2 scenes where this man took off running down the street and 1 scene where he ran up a flight of stairs. The. Harrison. Ford.

"Do not fear mistakes, there are none." – Miles Davis

I said it out of order on purpose.

The Bad - Remote was stuck, no chance of channel surfing or even raising the volume.

The Good - It was stuck on Cartoon Network.

The Ugly - It was Adult Swim.

The Oogly - @ 1 point this morning, it's a distant memory now, I got dressed by putting on my watch first, then my form fitting pants, then my socks, then the strap to my ♥ rate monitor THEN my sports bra. For a good 5 mins I was piddling around the apt w/just the strap and strangely enough, I felt quite comfie.

Herein lies/lays the thought pattern of an OCD perfectionist.

********

Picture it, Saturday night, around 9:42.

Oooh, time to hit the hay, must wake up @ insane AM to get my cardio in for the day. The excitement and anticipation prove to be too much and it keeps our heroine up past 10. No biggie, Cold Case was running about 10 mins later than normal, may as well catch the end. Besides Florence, from The Jeffersons fame, is today's special guest. I ♥ Florence.

10:15. Dammit, still not sleepy, tired, but not sleepy. Ok, may as well watch 48 hours, seemingly perfect rich people who kill each other never ceases to fascinate me.

11:15. Okey doke, now that I'm in bitch mode, going to be an hour later is NO excuse, I WILL get up.

Toss and turn and turn and toss.

Fugg!

Shure I'm musing way later than normal and it's been many moons since my last muse, but as Frank Costanza is fond of saying, I'm back baybeee.

Got to the gym so late, I missed my normal Nick @ Nite shows, but I did see the Rugrats all grown up. Didn't even recognize them. When the heck did the freckle faced red head boy, Chucky! (found that out in the last min of the show) get a Japanese sister?!?! I barely recognized any of them, till the end, I spied the twins and hubba hubba whoddathunk that bald head soggy diapered Tommy would turn into such a hottie *wolf whistle* almost makes me wish they'd show it earlier, it has the potential of becoming my cheezy AM workout show.

Also caught the most INANE SHOW EVER, "Here and Back" MTVs vehicle for Ashely sumthin. What a BORING show, gahhhh, watching it made my ♥ rate dip...pffft! That alone will make me make sure and get my @rse outta bed early next Sunday *snicker*

And just like days of old, the sweatdrop started exactly @ the 20 min mark. Good times.

194.6lbs

"When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself." – Isak Dinesen

ALL stats have been updated and I don't feel like running around the house screaming like a banshee while I gouge my eyes out. Behold day 63 in all it's pudgy glory. Oh and snark is back. Yea I am geeked.

I'm totally pumped for the upcoming mini challenge and no matter how it ends, it's already done what I needed it to do, it got me back in the game.

I'm off to a good start, for the first time this year and in many many months, I dusted off my Mother of All Spreadsheet (MOAS) and got to pluggin'. That bad girl tracks steps, minutes, miles, water, inches, weight and OCD...wait...I lied about the last unit

"An optimist is the human personification of spring." - Susan J. Bissonette

"Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference." – Virginia Satir

I got my partner(s) in crime...thanks!!! No more applicants...for now.

Brief reminder: The challenge lasts 4 weeks, we each kick in $5 a week that we'll donate to a charity @ the end, we'll check in daily w/how we did and we'll weigh in weekly. If you can't or don't want to do any of those 3 things, this isn't the challenge for you.

Your current weight:
Your ultimate weight:
What is your official weigh in day?:
*A brief overview of your realistic eating plan for the next 4 weeks:
*A brief overview of your realistic workout plan for the next 4 weeks:
And most importantly, why do you want to and plan to commit to this for the next 4 weeks?:

@ the end of last week after a long late day I headed home, knowing my cupboards were bare, I stopped off to get some chicken for dinner. I parked my car in the parking lot and headed to the front door. As I walked, I'm anticipating the things I planned to do online while eating dinner. All of sudden I see this black figure racing towards me. My biggest fear, a dog.

Frantically I rushed to the front door and try to keep my wits as I keyed in the #'s to the keypad before it could reach me. There was a girl standing inside and she opened the door for me. I tumbled in but she left the door open too long and the dog scrambled in behind me. I take off up the stairs w/the scary beast nipping @ my heels. By the time I made it to the 1st landing, it bolted past me and stood @ the 2nd floor doorway. Looking @ me. Trapping me. I gulped and prepared myself to let out a huge scream, when I opened my eyes a tiny bit to better focus on it...

I've always been reluctant to do this but now that I'm @ rock bottom, I'm going to give it a shot.

I need one person to do this weight loss thing w/me for 4 weeks. You must be serious and committed. No excuses. No dropping out. No bullshit. To do this you must okay w/having a realistic weight loss goal of 4lbs in 4 weeks and you must have a plan for your eating and exercise, drinking water is optional.

Every single day we will report on how we did food wise, workout wise and optionally water wise. Every week we will report our weight.

To make sure you are committed as I am, @ the start of each week we'll put $5 in a pot @ the end of 4 weeks, we will hopefully be 4lbs lighter and the $40 pot will be donated to charity, if it's cool w/you I'd like to do a diabetes related one. Winning back our health is prize enough, and the donation means there is no loser.

There are a few requirements and I'm sorry but it's my schtick, my rules, feel free to modify it and mimic it on your own site if you don't agree, but I want someone who is close to my weight +/- 10lbs, so 184-204lbers only.

Day 60 – 194.6. Almost did a double take @ my url to make sure it didn't read reneegetsfat.com. It's been one of those days, weeks, months, year.

I simply can not afford not to exercise, I don't have that luxury. it couldn't be helped last week b/c I wasn't @ home, but this is the consequence. Now I know. So now that I ruled out all the things I can't do b/c they make me gain weight, eating once a day...bad, eating till queasy...bad, being under stress...bad, not working out even a little bit...very bad...all that's left to do is the basics:

In the last 24 hours I've managed to scarf down almost 60 gms of fiber in the form of:

Yesterday:
- 2 servings of Fiber One
- Raisins
- ½ a bag of frozen brocolli
- 2 ½ servings of cashews

Today:
- 2 ½ servings of Fiber One
- 2 handful of raisins
- 2 servings of cashews
- small - mediumish garden salad
- ½ bag of brocolli

Being away from home and my computer for that matter, gave me plenty of time to do what I do best, think and reflect. Day 60 is fast approaching, and have I made as much progress as I would've hoped? Nope. Am I tempted to say chuck it, a bit. But will I? Nope.

It's easy to get caught up on woulda coulda shoulda and stay stuck in what didn't happen in the last 2 months or what went wrong, but when I look @ the picture dates going all the way thru day 360, it puts the 60 days in proper perspective. I'm not even @ the ½ way or ¼ way mark, I'm @ the 1/6th point.

But I am nearing 2/3rds thru the first quarter and a few things are hitting me.

Back @ home, never realize how much I missed my bed till I went to sleep last night. Anyhoo, just came back from grocery shopping and gotta get my house in order for the week ahead, just popping in b/c I hate to see my calendar on the right look empty.

********

Thanks for the feedback on the group challenge/incentive idea. I'm still mulling over the best and fairest way to pull it off, if I even do it @ all, but your suggestions gave me some food for thought. There are 4 more weeks in Round I of the Fat Fighter Year Long Fitness Challenge, so I still have some time to decide.

********

OoOoOoOOh and the Oscars are on tonight, so let me make my predictions in advance. Last year I was 5 for 5, eep! I don't think I'll be so lucky this year, many more great performance spread across the board.

n/a

I wasn't home this weekend.