TV vs. Reality

Isn't funny how we think we can do anything if we see it on TV. For example, I watched tiny houses house hunter show last night. For the next couple hours I considered buying a tiny house. I am not and will never be a tiny person. This will not work. Yet it looked nice on TV. I think it was mainly just that they are soo cheap and so cute. 

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I have been watching Extreme Weight Loss on TV too. I love that they generally give the contestants a whole year to lose the weight. However, I don't understand how these people go to Colorado for 3 months. Do they not have jobs? Maybe the show helps supplement their income? Either way the show is a great motivator, but I don't think I'll be applying any time soon. 

Off track

The last month has been a blur. My mom's longtime boyfriend (whom I saw as my stepdad) passed away very suddenly. He went to the hospital thinking he had the flu and was never discharged. They found a mass in his lungs in the ER and it went downhill from there. I won't get much more detailed on here ( for privacy) but it's been very hard on everyone. He was a great man and will be missed by many. 

My eating started going downhill about a week before this all happened. I got stuck in Texas an extra day for work due to flight cancellations. My options were limited and I was stressed so I ate poorly. 

At the hospital I ate whatever people brought. I have always found comfort in food. I've been a litte more on track this week and I plan to make sure I'm working out too. My health is definitely worth the work!

Motivated Mondays- Clothing

One of my motivations is clothing. Clothing that I can't really fit into well now. Here are a few motivators I found around the web.

This shirt. 

I like this whole outfit. 

This sweater. Maybe in a different color though. 

This dress. I love the color combination. 

Travel time

I've been traveling for work quite a bit lately and will be for the next month or so. It is really hard to eat well when traveling! I've done decent but I know there were many times I could've made better choices. Thnakfully I've been traveling with my coworker and she is pretty health conscious. I also find that I get in many more steps when traveling. 

We made sure we bought a pack of bottled water whe we landed. Or rental car this trip is a full loaded mini van, so we had plenty of room for it! We stayed at an Emmbassy Suites so we each have a mini fridge in our room. It makes it much easier to drink plenty of water and keep healthy snacks on hand. 

We've also had really nice weather this week. Monday the minivan display said it was 78 degrees at one point! I'm also enjoying the views. 

Motivated Mondays

I linked up with Kelsey from Random Randts today. She had mentioned the linkup in #SMChallenge. That Facebook group has definitely been great motivation. 

Today, however, I am going to talk about my BIGGEST motivation right now. Babies. I have caught the fever. And the fever burns HOT. 

I know it would be pretty selfish and unhealthy to get pregnant right now. I am too overweight and too out of shape. 

I am also almost 31. I realize that's not too old, but it's going to take some time to lose this weight. I don't want to wake up one day 40, overweight, and childless. That being said, I realize not having a baby isn't the end of the world. I just want to know I did everything I could to try. 

I've also been trying Young Living's Progressense Plus. I'm hoping this will help with any other hormonal issues that could make it harder to get pregnant. I've only had it about 10 days, so nothing to report so far.  

Sorry, this is a bit of a downer motivation. It really does keep me going though.And I know I'm not alone in this motivation :-) 

Progress

I know I haven't checked in much but the new year is going great! I have been tracking every day and I finally joined a gym again. I'm also working with my friend, Karinya, to learn more about Young Living essential oils. I would say I am on the road to 2015 being MUCH healthier than 2014.


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Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2015! I'm looking forward to many exciting things this year. 

2014 was not a terrible year but it had some low lows. I lost several family members that I will miss dearly. I also felt like the year flew by and I did not accomplish anything in terms of getting healthier! 

2015 will be the year that does happen!! I've written out my goals for 2015 already and I'm going to post more about them on this weekend. Most of them fall into one of three categories: organizing, health, and finances. Pretty typical for resolutions/goals. 

Brace Yourselves

I seem to post at very odd times. I have tomorrow off work so I am up a little later than usual. I had a little bit of vacation time I had to use before the end of the year.  I also get Thursday off for the Holiday. A nice little weekend in the middle of the week!

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I joined a group in Skinny Meg's Challenge. I am #teampinkrocket and I'm already excited for the new year! The best part is that K is on board. We both already started eating better.

Christmas Survey

I know I haven't blogged in a while. To get back in the swing of things I did this Christmas survey from Amanda at Amanda Unbidden  I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays!

Favorite Christmas Movie? My husband LOVES Christmas movies. My two favorite to watch with him are Elf or Christmas Vacation. I also love watching White Christmas

Favorite Christmas Song? White Christmas 

Favorite Christmas Tradition? Making Christmas cookies with my mom and sisters

Do you celebrate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Both. We go to my husband's grandpa's house and my mom's house on Christmas Eve. Then we go back to my mom's house Christmas Day (for  just my mom, her boyfriend, and all the kids and grandkid) and we also do something we my husband's parents, his siblings, and all the kids on Christmas day. 

What's the best Christmas present you've ever received? Technically she was a present for my husband, but probably our dog Angel. I appreciate the time together most of all, so there isn't any presents that stick out. I have enjoyed many of my present though. 

What's the worst Christmas present you've ever received? I'm not going to put that here haha. 

Fake tree or real? Real. It smells so wonderful.

 Open presents on Christmas Eve or wait until Christmas Day? Mostly Christmas day.

Leave Christmas Shopping to Nov/Dec or do throughout the year? I wish I did it throughout the year. Most of the time it doesn't work out. That's a good goal for next year!

And some fitness/healthy living questions:

Workout on Christmas Eve/Christmas or take the days off? Probably days off. Maybe workout Christmas Eve.

Stick to healthy eating or go all out and make up for it on January 1?  Half way in between? I try to stick to a plan, but that does include indulging a bit. 

Too cold to build a snowman

It is sooo freaking cold out! I tried to take the dogs to the dog park today. My face was instantly frozen. We stayed about 10 minutes but at least they got a little bit of a run! 

After that I made some whole wheat pasta with chicken and broccoli for dinner. I added a little pesto to mine and K had alfredo sauce. We've been really trying to eat at home this week. We're doing pretty good so far! Sunday I made a beef roast in the crock pot and yesterday we had pork loin chops. 

Backwards before and after

It's been a while. I've been really struggling to stay healthy lately. I need some focus and determination. I know how to do this and I know I can do this! This a backwards before and after. Hopefully I can go back to my before! 

Weekends go so fast.

This weekend went by so fast! I had a family picnic Saturday. Sunday I went on a walk with my mom, bought some work clothes, and took my stepson out for his 18th (!!!!!) birthday. 

Next week I'm traveling for work to Washington, DC. I haven't been there in a few years and I'm excited to go. DC is definitely one of my favorite cities. 

I am a little embarrassed as I will see coworkers I haven't seen in years. I've gained quite a bit of weight since I've last seen them. I know it will be fine. I guess I'll never get past the high school type fat shaming I've experienced in the past. 

New gym

I'm just now starting to feel better. The last two days have been miserable. The worst partis I couldn't even sleep because I was sooo congested!

I am excited that K and I are joining a gym closer to our house. We were members at LA Fitness and I really liked the facility. However, it was just a little too far away. Another bonus is that the new gym is open 24 hours. I'm excited to get more physical activity in!

Taking my breath away

I had a blast taking my dogs to the pooch plunge yesterday. 

However, K has been sick and I knew yesterday morning I getting sick too. I felt pretty bad last night. I woke up this morning and felt terrible! I could barely breathe! I ended up taking sick leave from work and slept most of the day. Hopefully I'm feeling better tomorrow. 

10,000 steps

I've had a Fitbit for a while now. I have the Fitbit Flex. Since I work from home and spend most of my time at a desk if really struggle to get 10,000 steps each day. I know I could set a lower goal, but I know 10,000 is possible. On days I travel I usually get closer to 11,000! 

I really made an effort yesterday to reach my goal. However, today I'm looking at my Fitbit at 11:30 PM and I'm nowhere close to 10,000 steps. 

This made me really what one of my biggest downfalls on this journey to healthy has been, inconsistency. And too much inconsistency leads to me pretty much giving up. 

I've decided from now on I need to make a plan. I'm going to make up a calendar and set solid goals. I'll share more about this tomorrow. 

4 days

I had yesterday off work for Labor Day. While it is nice to have a four day week, it will probably be a busy four days. I don't travel again for another couple weeks so that helps things. 

I'm really excited for this coming weekend. Toledo Unleashed is holding their annual pooch plunge. Basically they let dogs swim in a city pool the day before they shut it down for the year. Last year was a blast! 

I've also been trying to walk the dogs more. It's not easy with two strong labs, but they are learning. Tonight we even saw three deer. 

September

Hello September!

This year seems to be flying by. I've had some personal things going on lately. No excuse not to blog, but I've let the excuses win a little bit in general.

I've decided I'm going to try to blog at least 5 days per week. I have high hopes!

I'm excited for fall, cold weather, and more blogging!

Water!

Note- This post was from several weeks ago and when I edited it changed the publish date :-) 

So, I woke Saturday morning to K saying something about the water. I didn't think much of it. He had woke up early and I wanted to sleep in a little. At about 8 I checked Facebook on my phone. I had messages from multiple people about water. I figured there was just a boil advisory, though I'd never seen that in Toledo before.

As I started reading I realized the news articles said not to drink, shower, or basically use the water at all aside from flushing toilets. They also stated pets could not drink the water either. I immediately went downstairs and pulled the dogs' water. 

When I turned on the news they were reporting on the shortages of bottled water already occurring. I also learned the water was deemed not drinkable due toxins from algae blooms in Lake Erie. Read more HERE. Luckily, K was able to get a gallon and some single bottles. My main concern was the dogs. 

Later the mayor's office said it was okay to shower. However, I ended up taking a shower at someone's house with well water. The water was declared drinkable today. I still haven't used it. I think I'm going to let the system flush out a little more. Also, I'm keeping some water because I doubt this is the only time this will happen. 

Motivation

This summer has been a busier one with work. One of my coworkers retired and they are still in the process of getting a replacement. It's meant a little more travel for the rest of us. When I took this job I thought travel sounded exciting. Now I don't mind it but sometimes I just want to be home. Never the less, it is a good job and I am happy to have it.

I have been doing the Skinny Meg Challenge. So far it has went really well. I found the best motivation for me is having someone/something to be accountable to. Knowing that I posted my before picture really motivates me to do well as I do not want to post a pathetic after picture. Sadly, I am not brave enough to post my weight on a blog, maybe someday.

Walk it Out

This was supposed to publish last week. I was trying to schedule the time it posted since I wrote it late at night, but I guess that didn't work out..

I went on a walk with my sister yesterday and it was soooo humid. I was sweating about after about the second step outside the front door. I don't think it helped that there wasn't much of a breeze either. I told her we should find somewhere to walk around that is inside and air conditioned. I don't think I could be a mall walker (too crowded) so I was thinking maybe the art museum. I wish there was an Ikea closer. They are huge and seem to be fairly empty during the week. The weekends are a whole different story.

I was messing around on Twitter last night. Follow me @ekaty84. I've had a Twitter account for a while now but I've never really got too into it. I started following Courtney from the Biggest Loser on Instagram and she had a Twitter thing last night during the episode of Extreme Weight Loss. Did you watch it last night? It was a very inspiring episode! Anyways, I ended up following more Biggest Loser contestants on Twitter. I found a great Youtube channel, My Fitspiration, by the winner and the runner up of BL Season 11, Olivia and Hannah.