Starting Over

Ah I am back.  I had moved to Wordpress and was living life.  Then a "friend" offered to help me with my block and business and I ended up losing everything.  My website and all my blog posts.

I took a much needed break, but now I am back.  

Now I am focused on my weight loss and fitness journey along.

Join me on my journey and leave any and all advice on what has or hasn't worked for you.

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.

Fitbit Activity Tracker

I did not receive any compensation for this post.  I just love this thing so much I wanted to share.

Since summer is here I'm trying to find things to get us out of the house.

On top of the elliptical workout, I'm trying to work my way up to at least 10,000 steps a day.  I bought myself a Fitbit Zip to help keep track of my steps.  It also gives you an estimate on how many calories you burn a day, has a great website dashboard that lets you see your progress.

One thing I love about the Zip is it syncs with your computer and you don't have to manually log in your steps all the time.  It helps keep you honest with yourself.

You can also log into fitbit.com and see your progress.

I was amazed at how small it was when it arrived.  I thought it would be a little larger, ok a lot, than it was.  All the other pedometers I have had are about twice the size of the Zip.   As you can see its not much bigger than a quarter.  The size makes it much easier to wear, and hide.  I have mine attached to my bra since a lot of my work out clothes don't have pockets.

The package includes a USB Dongle, the Zip, a clip, a battery, and a "key" to unlock the battery cover.

The website dashboard allows you to see your stats all together.  You can even customize what you would like to see.  It also lists your friends and their weekly steps and ranks from highest to lowest.  You can choose to hide yourself from this ranking.  I'm hidden until I get up to 10,000 a day.

There is a phone app to use.  Right now Fitbit only syncs with  iPhone 4S

Samsung Galaxy S,

iPhone 5

Samsung Galaxy S III

iPod Touch (5th gen.)

Samsung Galaxy Note II

iPad 3, Retina

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

iPad mini

Even if you don't have one of these you can still use the app to keep track of your water intake and see your daily activity.

I would definitely recommend the Zip to anyone wanting a little extra from a pedometer or anyone that needs something to help keep themselves honest about their daily steps.

10 day elliptical workout

With summer vacation here, I now have a lot more free time. 

This week I had a long talk with my doctor.  After I left I wasn't to happy, but had to admit she was right.

I also had to admit it was time to dust off the elliptical I just had to buy and get my butt in shape.

So I called a friend of mine to ask for help. He's a personal trainer at a gym in LA.  I worked with him a couple of times before we moved.  But since we moved my world was turned upside down, and I just couldn't stick with anything. 

My biggest thing right now is pain.  Part is from the extra weight, and part is from the Lupus.  Either way its hard to stick with something when you're in pain 90% of the time.

So Trainer and I worked out a 10 day schedule to ease me into my elliptical.

This may not work for everyone, and may seem a bit wimpy, but I need easy to begin with.  It also will help me make working out a habit instead of dreading it.

Also during this I am doing exercises to help strengthen my leg muscles, but also help with the tendons and ligaments in my knees and ankles.  I am also going to talk to my rheumatologist at my appointment this week about physical therapy again.

After the 10 days it starts over but adding resistance to it.  Eventually I will up the time to 30 minute sessions twice a day.

I am focusing on what I can do and not how fast I can lose the weight.  I have learned in the past focusing on what I need to do to make the scale move is to much to fast, so I need to ease my way into it.

Like I said, this isn't for everyone, and may seem like a wimpy way to go about it, but its what I need.

Motivation Needed

I need motivation.  Actually I need a friend that I can work out with to keep me motivated.

Warrior and I started a challenge on June 1st.  To walk at least a mile a day,  but to be up to 10,000 steps by July 1st. 

He's trying to stay in shape for lacrosse, and I need to lose weight.  A lot.

In September we are walking the Donate Life 5K at California's Great America.  I would like to be able to ride the rides comfortably with the kids.

So that is my first medium term goal. 

I have decided that my long term goal is my tattoo.  I finally decided what I want to get in memory of Tin Man.  So once I hit my goal, I'm gonna do it.

I just need motivation.  Part of my problem, ok a huge part, is pain and lack of energy.  Its hard to stay motivated when you hurt all the time.  Plus having days where I can barely drag myself out of bed doesn't help either.

I have to learn to work through these, its just going to take a lot of will power.

Those of you that are trying to lose weight, or have lost weight, what did you do for motivation?  

Dieting and Grieving

As we all know, sticking to a diet is hard enough under normal circumstances. Let me tell you, dieting while grieving is 100 times harder.
I've done good this past week, but its been hard. I've been depressed and having to force myself to get out of bed. Not to mention I want my comfort foods.

I've wanted to give in so many times, and the only thing that has stopped me is I got rid of it all. Not a trace of any of my comfort foods in my house.

I have been tempted to jump in the car and drive to the store for some cheesecake or chocolate. Doesn't matter what kind, as long as it has chocolate in it, or cheesecake.

So instead of giving in, I replaced my chocolate cravings with a chocolate Slim Fast shake. Before some of you freak out, I'm not doing the Slim Fast diet, I'm just using the chocolate shake as a replacement for a large chocolate candy bar.

My grief isn't going away any time soon, so I had to find a way to give in but with something that won't make me feel worse instead of better.

I know, I know, food isn't the answer. I am working on it, I promise, but like I said, its 100 times harder with this emotional roller coaster I'm on.


On a better note, the kids and I sat down and made up a menu plan for the next couple of weeks. More fresh fruits and veggies, and less prepackaged foods. Getting them on board will help me stay on track.

Weight Loss - Starting Over

I'm starting over. Stress and dieting just don't go together. I've tried over the past 6 months, but it just didn't work.

I started the Walking With Attitude, but just couldn't get myself moving.  We did a lot of walking when Tin Man was able to, so walking around town brought back a lot of memories, which made it hard to bring myself to go.

So today I am starting over.

I sat down and talked to the kids this weekend, and made them both promise to help me. Promised they wouldn't let me use some lame excuse to get out of going for a walk, or to veg out on the couch.


We rely on a calendar a lot in this house. Between the kids' activities, things for school, doctor appointments, and more, we need a calendar to keep straight of things.

I decided to create a calendar that I can use for my workouts and also for activities for the week.

Even better is I printed this calendar out and put it in an 8 x 10 frame so I can use a dry erase marker instead of having to print it out every month.

Each day is color coded by what my workout routine is for that day. Eventually my workout routines will become more advanced. Right now they are just elliptical, walking, and basic arm and leg workouts.

I learned a long time ago not to pile everything on at once. If I ease myself into it I'm much more likely to stick with it.


I've also come up with some long term goals. Some for myself and some as a family. I told the kids if they can help me stay on track, that I'd treat us to a summer passed for Six Flags next summer.

I've also set some short term goals. Nothing to spectacular, just new clothes, manicure, lens for my camera.  


Starting weight - XXX (yeah, I'm so not brave enough to post this yet)  
Short Term Goal - 15 pounds gone  
Long Term Goal - 130 pounds

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.

Broken Laptop, New Year, and Gift Cards

I finally have a chance to sit down and type out a full entry.  My in-laws were here this last week, so most of the time was spent off doing things with them.
I've had several people email me wanting to know how they can help without having to go through HelpHopeLive.  I have the donate button on the page if you'd like to donate to that, or you could donate gas cards or grocery cards.  Tin Man gets his meds from Walmart because they are so much cheaper there than anything here in town, so Walmart cards to use towards the medicines would be a huge help.  Please if you're interested, email me at EverydayMorning@gmail and I'll get you more info.

So the day after Christmas I got up and turned my laptop on only to find its not working.  I think my hard drive went out, but not for sure.  I shipped it out today so hopefully they can fix it in a hurry.  I'm lost without my laptop and no matter what Tin Man says, his laptop just isn't the same.

Our Christmas and New Year was good.  Just glad all the holidays are over.  Hopefully by this coming Christmas Tin Man will have gotten his new heart and I'll be able to enjoy the holidays again.

I have many hopes for this new year.  Obviously the main one being Tin Man getting his transplant, but I have some for myself as well.  The biggest one is getting healthy and losing this nasty weight.  Sugar Peas got The Black Eyed Peas Experience and dancing with her kicked my butt.  We've been doing 3 songs every night since Christmas.  I decide I'm going to get her Just Dance, Just Dance 2, and Just Dance 3. For myself I'm going to check out Gold's Gym Dance Workout.

Doing the dancing is fun once you get the hang of it, plus it gets my heart rate up, and doesn't feel like exercising. 

We're also looking into getting a treadmill.  He's supposed to walk every day, but between living in a very hilly town and him not able to handle the hills and the weather, he doesn't to out to walk like he's supposed to.  The treadmill will let him walk at his pace and on flat ground.

Hopefully everyone had a safe and happy New Years! 

The Start of a New Me

Last weekend I went out with some friends.  We had a girls night out and then went to see the new Twilight movie.  It was a great night and something we really need to do more often.

The down side was a friend of mine got a new phone and insisted on testing out the camera on it.  Its been a while since I've seen a picture of myself.  Let me say I was NOT happy.

I knew that I have gained some weight since all this stress started, but I hadn't realized just how much.

I had planned on starting last week, but between dealing with some things that came up with Sugar Peas and Thanksgiving, it didn't happen.

That stops now.  I have 3 weeks before the kids go on winter break, so I'm hoping to use the next 3 weeks to help me get into the habit of waking up every morning and jumping on the elliptical.

I talked to hubby about me getting a gym membership when we get our taxes back.

If you know of any good weight loss blogs or websites please feel free to leave me a comment.  I'm looking for new ideas and all the support I can get.