Weight Loss in 2014

Another one of my goals is to lose 50 pounds.

More would be great, but I'm aiming for 50.


One of my goals for this year was to run my first 5K.  That has been postponed.

In place of that is my goal of sucking up my fear and having surgery on my knee.  Its been bothering me for several months, but the last week its been horrible, to the point walking is a chore.

It also means having to give in and ask someone for help.  I want to wait until summer, but even then means I need someone to drive me and the kids around.  I hate asking people for help.  Its crazy, but I feel like a failure if I need help from anyone.


Anyway, back to the weight loss goal.   The first big step for this goal is to beg my rheumatologist to wean me off Prednisone.  I hate this medicine, and everything it does for me.  Yes it keeps my immune system from freaking out as bad, but the side effects are horrible.  Especially the weight gain and appetite.


This also means going through my cabinets and getting rid of a lot.  I have a feeling the local food bank is going to love me.

Walking With Attitude - Day 1

The company my brother in law works for is doing a company wide walking challenge.  Their goal is for each employee and their spouse to get 10,000 steps in a day.  I decided to look into the website they use and found I could sign up as an individual.

I had considered waiting until I got home in August start, but then decided this would give me motivation to get out when we're in South Carolina.

Its also a way to help me get ready for the Donate Life Walk the kids and I are doing in September in honor of Tin Man and his donor.

I'm asking all of you to help keep me on track.  I can keep track of my daily steps on the website, but I figure if I keep track of weekly steps here, I'll have that many more people to keep me on track.

Spur of the Moment Camping

This last week has been really rough.  Since school's out, we've been home more, and it's hard.  School gave us routine, gave us something to focus on.  Now we don't have that.  So a friend of ours decided we needed a change of scenery, so we had a spur of the moment camping trip at Big Basin.  We rented a tent cabin on Tuesday.  The cabin came with everything we needed, including, firewood, sleeping bags, pillows, a propane stove, pots and pans.  All we had to take was food and anything else we wanted.

It was so pretty up there being surrounded by so many beautiful redwoods.  A change of scenery was exactly what we needed.

The kids had so much fun.  We took a nice, long, relaxing walk just to take in everything.  The kids favorite part was the steak being dropped into the fire, 3 times.  They thought that was hilarious.

My favorite part was relaxing around the fire and not having anything to worry about for a few hours.  Also not having cell service.  I feel naked without my phone, but it was nice not having to explain to people why I'm not in the mood to talk, or even text. 

Saturday the kids and I leave for Oregon to help finish up things for my brother's wedding.  Then we'll be off to South Carolina for a couple of weeks.  Then headed to LA and Disneyland for a few days before heading back home.

My kids are going to be so spoiled this summer between my sister, brother, my mom, my mother in law and the rest of Tin Man's family.  But right now they deserve it.

These birds are pretty, but OMG they are so annoying.

 We found a lot of burned out redwoods on our walk.  Just imagine how huge this one was.

 I love living near the redwoods.  Even the small ones are amazing.

 This tree had 100s of carvings on it.  Warrior carved in Tin Man's name and his birthday and date of death.

 This little guy was all over our campsite.  He even stole some of the graham crackers the kids dropped.

 Woodpecker.  This reminded me of growing up.  My grandma had a bunch of them around her house and we would be woke up ever morning by their pecking.

Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012

 When we got our taxes back one thing we splurged on was an XBOX 360 with Kinect.  The kids paid for half of it with the money they had saved up in their XBOX 360 bank.

At first I wasn't sure because there are a lot, and I mean A LOT, of games for XBOX that I won't let my kids play.  I gave in after trying it with the Kinect at a friends house.  I loved that they had to actually get up and move and not just sit on the couch with a controller.

We have the Wii, but with most of those games they just worked out the arms and not much else.  Wii Fit Plus that kids found ways to get around having to exercise when they got tired.

With the Kinect, they can't.  If they don't move, their person on the screen doesn't move.  I also like the variety of fitness games they have.

I bought Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 and I love it.  I love that it has beginner, intermediate and advanced exercises.  Let me tell you, even the beginner kicked my butt in some areas.

I've been using it for a week now and I am sore in places I didn't know existed before.

Right now I'm trying to get myself up and moving before I focus on weight.  I have found that for me trying to focus on motivation, weight, what I eat, and anything else causes be to give up right away.

I have a lot of weight to lose, but I'm taking it one step at a time.  If I get myself up and moving first, then everything else will fall into place eventually.

I told Tin Man I wanted to get The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout and Zumba Fitness to add to my collection.

The more choices I have, the less likely I'll get bored.