exercising

It's been a while since I've done a good exercise program. In the last 5 years I've had 4 babies so it's been difficult to start anything. Since I'm now done having kids I feel it's time to start again. I realize I'm much older than I was previous to babies so I know my body will react differently. I find I can't do as much for as long. I get sore more easily and out of breath. BUT, i'm determined to see this through. I feel better after working out. I've been walking Kamden to Preschool and sometimes even Kinsee to preschool depending on whose house it's at for the week. Pushing the stroller with 3 kids, Kallen stays home with daddy, is good resistance and I've been wearing my Shape-up shoes. Man do I feel the burn! I have also purchased a couple of new DVD's to work out with Bob! I got the Biggest Loser and than another one that he does. I can barely make it through the 1st workout of The Biggest Loser and the other is an hour with me doing 25 min of it. I figure start out slow and work my way up. I need to be realistic about this right? I then will weigh myself on the Wii Fit Plus to see how I'm doing. After a week or so I've lost 3.something lbs. It's a start. I have a long way to go but figure it took me 4-5 years to gain it all I can take my time losing it. I love seeing my kids try to do the workouts with me. I'll even catch them turning it on and doing it themselves! I'm setting the example of exercising being good. That's important. I have help with the kids and that helps me too. I have even started doing Yoga during my break at work. It helps me wake up a bit and get through the night. I don't know a lot of yoga moves but the few I do know take up the 30 min that I get. I'm feeling good about my beginnings and actually feel like I can do this. I can lose the weight! Now to cut back on my snacking and soda at work....

Walking

For Christmas I bought me some new sneakers, Shape-Ups. They kick my butt! I love them. I have started walking either Kamden or Kinsee to school (Preschool) when I can. It ends up being a few times a week and I wear these shoes plus push the stroller taking Kai with us. Kallen I leave at home with Daddy since my stroller only fits 3 not 4. I have enjoyed these moments of walking with the kids. I am completely out of shape but it's been fun to get out and start walking again. I also try to do some Yoga on the Wii to get some stretching in. This is a bit harder to do since Kallen will want my attention or the kids will want to play games. So I'll do what I can and try to fit some exercising and stretching in. I figure start slow and maybe I'll stick to it. Little by little right? I haven't noticed any weight loss or changes but I've only been doing it about a week. I'll continue working on it and maybe soon I'll notice some difference. :)

Long Time Coming

It's been a while since I last posted. This blog was to be for goals and motivation. After I found out we were going to have another baby, had to move from TX to AZ and then get life settled there I took a break from blogging on 2 blogs and did what I could with 1. Now that life is slowing down a bit I may be able to keep up. The family blog is all about the family. The Goals blog is about my goals and desires for the family and myself. It's a new year so new beginnings...right? I may fail and have to start over but at least here I'm writing about them and trying to keep up with them.

There are so many things I want to work on this year and many more that I need to work on. So here's hoping I can think of them, write them down, do them and follow up/through with them.

To begin with I think the first thing I want to work on is my spirit. I want to attend all 3 meetings at church but not only attend I want to get something out of them. So far so good as I did that today. My sub goal from listening at church is to work on making my fasts much more effective. Which leads to my first need goal. I need to work on getting things in order to find a new job. That too has a sub goal that I have been working on. I found and updated my resume. So see I'm doing good already this year!

The next goals is to fast for help in deciding what to do with my life since I now need to do this. I have some time before my job officially ends but I'd like to have everything lined up for a smooth transition. So I'll be fasting, maybe more than once, to not only find a job but one that will be good for me and my family. One that can support us and that will have health insurance. I'm considering going back to school so maybe my fasts of job will also include school and if that's the right thing for me and my family.

I will try to focus on these and post about how things are going with them in the next week or two.

I also want us to have good Family Home Evenings. I want a good lesson that applies to us all and for us to really and truly work on making our home better. Since I have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off I think we can make this work. We can plan the lesson on Sundays and give them on Mondays. Sounds easy enough but life gets in the way. If Sundays are better than we'll have FHE on Sundays. Maybe I can follow through with this one by posting on what the lesson was on and if there was an activity. Maybe I can even take some pictures!

I think this is a good beginning.
Fasting and making it more effective.
Fasting for help in finding employment and/or going to school.
Having good Family Home Evenings.
Reporting on all of the above.

I can do this and with any comments y'all may have I know I can stick to it and make them habits. Habits that are worth having! Here's to the New Year!

So Long Diet. Hello Baby.

Today I'm feeling a little bummed. I haven't been to the gym in quite some time, haven't been good about posting, and have realized that all our goals have been torn to shreds.

The goal to lose weight is on hold for about 7 more months. I'm expecting another baby, which I'm looking forward too more than I thought I would be, but still that means gaining weight not losing it. Maybe this is why I wasn't losing it very quickly or at all. I do want to get to the gym and walk or bicycle at least to keep somewhat in shape. Maybe this will help me have a healthier pregnancy.

I haven't been eating well. We've done a lot of eating out which is also not good for the body. But how I love someone else fixing the meals and cleaning them up. :) I have been buying more fruit though if that is any consolation.

I haven't been managing money the greatest recently either. All the eating out with a family my size consumes alot of the green stuff that doesn't seem to grow on trees or magically appear on cards. :) I do have a new goal though of getting Quick Books or something and start over. Make a budget and really try to stick to it. I'm not good at this as those who know me well can attest but I do want to keep trying. Eventually I have to succeed, right?

We also aren't going on a family vacation this year. Although Larry's health has improved greatly he still has limits to what he can or rather should do. We don't want to push too hard and backslide. Plus with me being prego I don't feel like chasing 6 kids with another on the way around places. So we'll stay close to home again this summer and swim at Papa's pool. Maybe we'll try to do a night someplace fun but otherwise nothing this year. I feel bad for the kids but also realize that the older 3 have had fun things in their lives. The younger 3/4 don't know much now and hopefully by the time they are older we can do some fun things too for them to experience.

So although I'm a little bummed about things right now I do have hope for the future. I can reset goals and achieve some of them.

Off Track

Some how I've gotten off track. I was doing so well with getting up and exercising each day...now not so much. Life is catching back up with me. I find that if I'm exercising my housework isn't getting done. If I stay home to clean then I don't have time or energy to exercise. I have got to get into some kind of routine. I think my house may just have to suffer so that I can exercise and keep my sanity, I can then have energy to play with the kids, and then work the evening/night away. Housework can get done on weekends or something. This will be my new goal. I enjoy exercising and going to the gym. I love my gym membership and my IPOD - they truly keep me sane. I find I'm more calm if I take this time for myself. So here's to a new goal of balancing exercise, family, housework and work into my days.

We have changed our goal for Summer Vacation. We are planning as a family to go to Washington DC. We are super excited for this and are very grateful to Heather's Dad for letting us visit him. This will be so much fun for the family. 2 days driving, a week in DC with a possible day or two in NY, and then 2 more days home. Busy but fun. I have almost 2 weeks off, just a couple of days shy of 2 weeks, so we have time to drive and relax and have fun. Let's hope we can save what's left of our Tax Return for the trip. Must Save, Must Save, Must Save...

My next goal is to also keep the kids busy in extra sports or something. I think they are starting to go stir crazy being home and together all the time. Kait has soccer and violin. Kaijsa has piano and will hopefully have classes and job soon. Kam has T-ball. I want to get Kinsee into Gymnastics, possibly after 3rd b-day. Another thing to save up for but a must I think. I love having family time and togetherness but sometimes being apart is good too.

Well...here are my new goals and wishes. I sure hope I can make them happen.

Weight loss is at a plateau of 165/166. I'll round down to 165 because that makes me feel better. :) I will keep working on it and my diet. It is such a life altering and life long change and goal. So hard for me because I'm an emotional eater. Oh well. Here's to future days and achievements.

On a Roll!

I decided a while back to renew my committment to losing weight. I did this by joining a gym, after the trial period to make sure I'd like it, and trying to eat healthier...again. This time it's WORKING!!!! I've gone from 183, a couple of months ago (maybe less?) to "drum roll please"....166! I'm so super excited! I can't say as I really see a difference but it's nice that the scale is. I am LOVING the gym. I went to a spinning class and it kicked my butt but I loved it. I can't wait to do it again. I'm enjoying my yoga/pilates (whether the class, Wii or DVD's) and I have even started to like running. The eliptical is still a favorite as well. I want to try the kickboxing class but haven't gone yet. I'm just glad to finally see the weight coming off. I got myself a new dress for Easter to reward myself. Also with my bonus money from work in addition to the gym membership I got myself an IPOD so I have something to listen to while working out. The kids enjoy the Kids Club and that is nice as well. Makes me not feel so guilty for going. Anyways...I just wanted to share my progress with y'all. I still have a ways to go but I know I can't do it all at once. Plus I'm sure I'll have set backs but I WILL keep trying and doing what I can. Here's to losing more and reaching my goal!

On a side note we may be changing our summer vacation plans but are still going to be able to save up and do something fun for/as a family. Just waiting on those pesky tax returns. Oh well, at least we're getting something, that's better than nothing. I'm starting to realize how blessed I am and how grateful I should be. It only took me 34/35 yrs.

New Breath

Ok, so after venting and being upset for a while about my lack of weight loss I've made some new steps toward achieving what I want. I got a bonus this year from the company I work for! So with this extra money I decided to get a gym membership to 24 Hour Fitness. I'm not usually one for gyms but felt like I needed some extra help. I got a 2 year membership from Costco, because this was the better deal, and went today. I had a free trial memebership for a week and enjoyed going. They have a Day Care room so the kids can go and play while I work out. They love it and I love it too! After a week or so of not weighing myself but still getting some exercising in I re-weighed myself today........and YAY!!! I lost 6.*** according to the Wii. I am now 172.something. I'm just going to round down because that makes me feel better. :) So 172 it is. This may not seem like a lot but when I've been bouncing between 177 and 183 usually around 179 this is a good surprise for me. I'm excited. I will still do my Wii Fit Plus and the other exercises that I bought. I love doing the exercise ball and I really enjoy Yoga/Pilates. Now I have the Gym to go too as well. I haven't been to any of the classes yet but I want to. I want to try the spinning and kickboxing especially. I have enjoyed the Eliptical and Treadmill. It's nice to work up a good sweat. So here is to starting anew and breathing new life into my goal of losing weight.