* A Strong New Me! *

For starters, when I logged in this morning, I couldn’t read anything in the forum. All I am getting is the blank box to type my own comments instead of the threads I am trying to read.   So I started to type a blog post, and the entire thing got deleted when I tried to save it.

*sigh*  This is beyond getting old.  This is downright ridiculous and makes the site damn near worthless.  A little  site maintenance goes a long way!  I see new people trying to start accounts here, and their blogs are posting under someone else’s name, yet nothing is done to resolve their issues.  Why the hell would they come back?

 I’m glad I started the private summer challenge forum, because this site seems to be taking its last breaths.  It just angers me that a site that has been so helpful and supportive to so many is allowed to rot away, day by day, until it will no longer function at all.

Over halfway through January already!  This is a good time to check in, see where I am, how I am doing, and what adjustments I need to make for the rest of the month.

Exercise?  Check.  I have worked out nearly every day, though I skipped yesterday due to just not feeling like it!  That puts me at day #19 of my Supreme 90 Day challenge. 

Yesterday’s shakiness concerns me, because it’s the first time I’ve stumbled since the new year.  Difference being, I won’t let it turn into a never-ending downward spiral.  I’m going to catch up on my workouts tonight, eat clean, and still aim for a 1-2 pound weight loss this week.

I’ve added a ticker to the right side of my blog page, counting down 10 pounds to my next mini-challenge.  I will update it each week after weigh-in. 

Now for a random rant: I watched Biggest Loser last night, and I’m just not feeling it this season.  Last season was motivating because the contestants took their weight loss efforts seriously and worked hard.  This season, the contestants appear to have been hand-picked from the whiniest, most annoying, bitchiest stash of crybabies and backstabbers the producers could dig out from under rocks. 

I know the show takes a lot of criticism, and I am well aware that hiding away from the real world to lose weight is not something the majority of us can do.  That is why this season’s contestants’ nasty attitudes, eye-rolling, and pettiness is so grating.  They have been handed an opportunity that most of us will never have, and what do they do with it?  Whine, complain, attack each other, anything but focus on self-improvement and losing weight.  The world has too many immature jerks in it already; why would I watch a TV show to see even more of them?

Anyway…rant over :) 

I am proud of the effort I have made so far this month.  There are 2 more weeks left to see what else I can do!

When I went home for lunch today, Gary grandly escorted me to the back porch, where he had the patio table laid out with nice plates, silverware, and red placemats.  The kitchen smelled great, and when he came back outside, I found out why.  He had prepared lunch for both of us, and he poured our drinks into wine glasses and talked with an exaggerated French accent, ha ha. 

He loves to surprise me, and I couldn’t stop smiling.  We went away this past weekend to have some time together, and I wasn’t ready to go back to work today!  So coming home to that surprise was wonderful, like our holiday wasn’t quite over yet.

The best part?  He knows I’ve been working out hard and keeping my food diary, so when I lifted my napkin from my plate, there was a sheet of paper on which he had written the calorie count of everything on my plate!  He thought of everything Just for fun, this is a picture of us from this past weekend.  We stayed at a bed-and-breakfast that was absolutely beautiful!

I kicked off this past weekend with a run, then played tennis with Gary and the kids that afternoon.  Given our level of skill (ummm, let’s just say “beginner” may even be too much for us), I did even more running during tennis than I did during my jog!  I chased down the balls that were sent soaring over the fence, or 3 courts down, or into the parking lot.  I play with the rule that if the ball is still bouncing, it’s still good, even if it is a mile away from the boundary lines, so I ran after every out-of-bounds ball with the hopes of hitting it somewhere near the vicinity of our court.  I was exhausted by the time we headed home! 

On Sunday, I hit the gym in the morning and played on cardio machines, then I did the Ultimate Ball workout at home to stick to my Supreme 90 Day workout schedule.  Bottom line, I definitely don’t need to wonder if I was active enough this weekend! 

I can barely walk today, my legs are so sore.  Gary rubbed my legs for me this morning, which I suspect was a ploy to grab my butt every now and then, but I let it slide

I headed out early, while the kids were still sleeping, to go running this morning.  I have been working out but not running for a while, so I didn’t expect much.  I figured if I lasted 30 minutes, I’d be happy. 

I refuse to look at my stopwatch while I’m running; I wait until I can tell I’m not going to last much longer, then I make a game of it and say “one more lap and I’ll check my time.”   When I did that this morning, I nearly fell over: I’d been running for over an hour!  No wonder I was starting to feel tired :)  I ended up with 65 minutes.

Since I started the Supreme 90 Day workouts, which are more weight-training focused than cardio, I was worried I wouldn’t make progress in endurance and cardio health, but obviously I was wrong.  I was so shocked when I saw how long I had been running.  And very proud!

I weighed in this morning and have lost 2.4 pounds since last week.  I was practically jumping up and down, I was so happy this morning, first with the great run and then with the weight loss.  I’m on a roll!

It’s official: I am a bona fide, certified member of a gym again!  I put on my favorite neon leotard, my best fuzzy leg warmers, and my coolest sweatband, and I grape-vined all the way to the gym…OK, not really.  But pictures of 80’s style workouts make me chuckle, so I had to add one here.  Remember L.A. Gear?  Ha ha.

When I finish my workout this evening, I will have officially completed one full week of Supreme 90 Day!  I’d like to reward myself for each 30 days completed, to motivate myself and to pat myself on the back for finishing each stage of the workout plan. 

Something has finally clicked, and I am ready for change.  I am ready to change my eating habits, my soda habit, the way I work out, the way I think.  I am ready to stop making excuses.  I am ready to stop accepting mediocrity.  I am ready to dig out the best me possible.

Thank you for the comments on my last blog post.  It is true, I can’t really take care of others fully unless I am taking care of myself first.  It is not selfish to prioritize my health and my happiness: it is simply smart.  I know Gary and the kids want to see me succeed, and they have never been anything but supportive.  They deserve a strong, fit, happy me as much as I do!

If my lack of success in 2011 has any benefit, it is the fired-up, hell-bent attitude I have now.  I won’t repeat my mistakes.  I will no longer defeat myself.  The biggest change I am ready for is SUCCESS.