When are you due? Oh, you mean my food baby?

Well it happened. One of the biggest fears a woman can have. I was asked if I'm pregnant. I'm not.

One of my clients I saw yesterday is about 70 years old, and is also deaf. We write notes to communicate with each other. I saw her yesterday and as I was leaving she pointed at my stomach, did a rocking motion with her arms, and said, "baby?"

I shook my head no, and she did a face palm. I couldn't help but laugh a little. But man, what a blow to my self esteem. I have been more active, making better food choices, and hardly drinking soda. I went to Burger King yesterday wanting a Whopper Jr with cheese meal, and I opted for the grilled chicken meal with no mayo and apple fries. I wanted to skip the bike ride Dustie and I had planned and just hide under my covers and cry.

Normally a situation like this would just trigger an eating binge, but I did not allow it. I stopped by the grocery store on my way back into town. I picked up some BLSL chicken breasts marinated in sun-dried tomatoes and some fresh produce. We grilled out and enjoyed a nice healthy dinner together.

After dinner we went for a bike ride together. We just tootled around town and ventured on the trails. The Cedar Valley bike trail stretches over 50 miles. We didn't do that last night, but someday maybe. Can I tell you how awesome my saddle seat is? My rump didn't hurt one bit!

You'd think he could wait for me......

We rode for about 40-45 minutes or so. We had a lot of fun talking and being together (we don't get to see each other much). I could have gone with out getting a bug in my eye, but the good comes with the bad, right?

Day: 6 Weather: 70s, nice breeze Calories burned: 420 Calories till goal: 7136

Try to catch me ridin dirrrty.

My husband is thebomb.com. Boardies may know him as Mr. Whoa and my friends know him as Dustie, but no matter what you call him, he's the shit. I had a terrible day at work last week, and I came home to a nice surprise. He bought me a pretty purple bicycle. We've been talking about different activities to do together and bike riding came up. My old bike was a little small, and this one is the perfect fit.

However, having a little, hell, a lot of junk in the trunk, makes bike riding painful. I bought the Cadillac of bike seats for $19.96 at Wal-Mart. I love it, except for the fact its called a saddle. Oh well, my rump isn't crying when I'm done riding.

Since I don't see Mr. Whoa as much as we should because of our crazy schedules, I try to meet him for lunch a few Saturdays a month when he's at work. Instead of hopping in my car to meet him, I hopped on the Grape Escape (yes, I named my bike) and rode to his work. Its a little less than two and a half miles one way, so I thought it would be perfect for my first ride.

I'd like to eventually ride to work at least one time a week. Work from home is about 10-11 miles which isn't too bad, but I need to find a decent route where traffic isn't too heavy and where the trails aren't underwater. That will be my goal in the next few weeks to find the best way, and then try to find the balls to actually do it.

I rode about half an hour yesterday for the round trip. I burned 402 calories, which was more than I expected. My legs are a little sore today, and I've been spinning as well.

Day: 5
Weather: High 60s, very sunny and windy.
Calories burned: 406
Calories till goal: 7556

At this point, if I burn 5000 calories this month I will be happy.

Going, going, going, GREEN!

So yesterday I went green. I decided instead of hopping in my car and driving to the grocery store I would walk. It has been rainy on and off the past week, so I decided to take advantage of the weather and stroll down to the store. I didn't push myself by any means, but it felt good to get out and about since most of my weekend was spent inside.

I walked about a half hour total there and back, and I even remembered my grocery tote! So not only did I not pollute the air with gasoline fumes, I saved a rubber tree. The totes make it much easier to carry groceries back home.

Day: 4

Weather: 70 degrees, tad muggy from the storms

Calories burned: 206

Calories to goal: 7962

I better get going on the calories....the month is almost half over!

Moving in the right direction.

Well it's Friday. What does that mean? Last working day for my full-time job, pay day every other Friday, and oh yeah, weigh in day. I stepped on the scale this morning a little nervous since I had a hard work out last night, I didn't eat dinner till about 8:30, and was asleep by 10:00.

183.6. Down three pounds!

I have about five weeks till I'll be in sunny Florida, and I'd like to be down 10 pounds from my start weight. If I'm not, it's really not a BFD. I know I have a long road ahead of me, but at least I'm going the right way.

My challenge for myself this week is to make better choices when I'm working at the bar. Most nights I do get a salad and some type of fried goodness, but maybe I'll try to bring my own meals, or even get a salad and grilled chicken. But Jami likey....Jami want wingy.

Week one is done, bring it on week two! ***Punches chest***

Sore ass and legs, party of one.

Okay I realize its the 8th day of the month. I haven't worked out since Friday. I was looking forward to going straight home today after work. Going right home is VERY rare for me. Between working two jobs, running errands, gym time, and any other commitment-doesn't leave me a lot of home time. How the eff does it get so messy? Must be the underpants gnomes.

One of my besties, CT, always posts on Facebook what workout she will be doing that day to hold herself accountable. This morning she said she had Ultimate Results and Spin class after work. Being the good girl that I am, I packed my gym bag just in case. I inquired about the time of Ultimate Results. CT said it was at 4:45 and asked if I wanted to join her. I didn't, but I'm glad I did.

Ultimate results works with free weights to tone the body. You wouldn't think 12-15 pounds weights would be too straining...but oweeee. After that class was over, we ventured to spin. This instructor is super hard, but it was a great workout. 862 calories later, we were done. I'm very happy I went. My daily calorie goal went up a litte since I haven't gone every day, but the goal is still in reach.

Day: 3 Weather: Inside, very hot and stuff Calories burned: 862 Calories to goal: 8168

Saying noda to soda and drop the pop.

Another goal I'm trying to set is to give up soda, coke, pop, etc. The reason I'm looking into it is that there is no real nutritional value, and it's really expensive. Think about it....you go to a restaurant for lunch, and soda is anywhere from $1.50-$3. For awhile I was drinking two 20-oz bottles of Diet Pepsi a day. That cost me about $3/day, over $20/week, and almost $100/month! I can think of a lot of other things I'd like to spend my money on, like this dress here:

http://www.thelimited.com/detail/sequin-shoulder-dress/3175531

Thank you Jess for sharing in your blog, it is gorgeous!)

In March I went quite awhile with out having soda. One weekend I was working at the bar and had a total Pepsi binge because we ran out of iced tea. I felt awful the next couple days. I didn't have more than two all week after, but on Easter Sunday I had a Diet Squirt. I haven't had one since.

I'm not going to say that I will never have one again, but the longer I can hold off the better. I will treat myself here and there, but anytime I have one after a hiatus I feel gross. When I'm not in the beer mood, I'll have my Three-Olives Cherry Vodka with Diet Pepsi, when I'm wasted and want Hardees breakfast I'll get my Dr. Pepper. I think if I tell myself I can't have something, it makes me want it more. If I say, "Hey, feel free to enjoy it whenever you please," it wont be as appealing.

So here is to three days being soda sober, let's hope there are many more.

***Raises water mug***

For Easter I traded a Cadbury egg for a few NSVs.

For those of you who don't speak the language of Weight Watchers, NSV= non-scale vicory. Clever right? I feel these are just as important as having a scale victory.

I took advantage of the lovely weather and took Miss Kia (see picture above) to the Paw Park. Dogs need their exercise just as much as humans. And as always, Kia wants to dress to impress. Like her pink mohawk?

This weekend went pretty good. I had lunch with the gal pals on Saturday. We split a Garbage Basket which had fried pickes, mushrooms, mini tacos, jalapeno poppers, cheese balls, and brew city fries. I did have a few things out of basket. Who can deny a mini taco? I did have a salad tho which is HUGE for me because I love bar food. Like if I could marry it I probably would, but polygamy is not legal in Iowa. I had a gyro salad with the dressing on the side. I even took more than half of it home because it was huge. My girlfriends both had cheeseburgers which is something I would normally get and clean the plate no problem, so I felt good about my choice and I didn't feel bad for enjoying a mini taco and a couple of cheeseballs.

I had to get my rings and necklace inspected at the jewelery store, so Dustie dropped me off at the mall. He said he would go put my new tire on (thank you city of Cedar Falls for taking your sweet-ass time fixing the potholes) and said he would come pick me up. I turned to him and said, "You know what? I'm going to walk." The dealership is roughly a mile away from the mall so it's not like I did a marathon, but it felt great to walk and be outside. By the time I got back there he had just finished so it was perfect timing.

Before Easter dinner, we walked from my mama's house to the gas station to get some brew. It's not a long walk what-so ev, but we didn't drive.

For Easter dinner I didn't overindulge like I normally would. Holidays are super hard for me NOT to overeat. I work two jobs and Dustie works long ass hours so its rare that we both get to sit down and enjoy a home cooked meal together. I stopped when I felt satisfied. I even had three deviled eggs which are my fave.

I'm going to start making a point to walk to places as much as I can. We live on the outside of town so there isn't a ton of things I could walk to. The grocery store is probably a little less than two miles from the apartment, so I want to try that soon. My reusable giraffe tote bags will make it easy to carry groceries home, and allow me to be fashionable at the same time. Win-win. I didn't officially work out, but walking places I would normally hop in the car to get to made me feel really good.

How did your Easter go? Do you feel more motivated to work out after a holiday?

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger Woods Ya'll!

Day: 2
Weather: Hot and stuffy gym. Big storm outside....it looked like a hurricane.
Calories burned: 540
Carories till goal: 9030

So during my run on the tredmil my iPod fell. I am thinking about investing in an armband. I have a clip now that I like and it just attached to my pants/shorts. The last two times I've been running it falls off and the sensor detaches ending my workout. It really grinds my gears.

I did some interval running today and then I heard a voice over Lady Gaga. Was it God? I thought so at first. Close...it was Tiger Woods. He came over my Nike + to congratulate me for completing my fastest mile. Why couldn't it have been Christopher Meloni?

Since my iPod was being an asspanda, I actually have 4 different workouts for today on my Nike +, when it was supposed to be one 5K. I'm going to try to have a more consistent run instead of intervals and see what happens.

Besides running....what are some of your favorite activities?

Oh hi scale, what's up?

My weight? You don't say. Here it is folks....my starting weight is: 186.6. I'm still 12.2 pounds under my heighest weight, but about 50 pounds over my lowest weight.

I also took my measurements so if the scale isn't moving down hopefully the inches on my body are.

Neck: 14

Bicep: 13

Bust: 41

Waist: 45

Hips: 47

Thigh: 25

Calf: 16

Here is too a fresh start! It didn't come on overnight so I know it wont come off overnight. I sure wish it would tho :)

2 legit, 2 legit to not be fit.

So I was thinking of different work out challenges I could do to get my ass in gear. I thought how cool it would be to burn 10,000 calories in one month. That is just over 330 calories per day, which is perfectly doable.

I'm off to a good start thanks to the phenomenal weather we've been having in Iowa. After a very frigid winter it feels great to be outside. I grabbed my iPod and went for a walk. Did I run? No. I wanted to take everything in. Before I knew it I was on a stroll for about an hour and a half and thanks to my homegirl Nike +, she told me I walked 3.59 miles.

I also burned 430 calories. So after day one, I'm almost 100 calories ahead of my goal.

Day: 1

Weather: 80 degrees, slight wind

Calories burned: 430

Calories till goal: 9570

Wake up, wake up, wake up, it's the first of the month....

I have finally woken up. I've been looking back on my lifestyle for the past several years and have come to realize that I basically pissed my 20s away. I'm am 28 years old, and I have never felt comfortable in my own skin. I think I look okay, but one of the many evils of Facebook, "the tag" proves me wrong. Could I untag myself? Well sure, but what good will that do? So above is a picture that was tagged of me. Am I pregnant? No...I just look like I am.

I'm a huge foodie. I love to eat. When I vacation somewhere I want to check out new restaurants. If I'm celebrating something, I eat. If I'm sad I eat. If I'm bored I eat. I've never been one to eat when I'm hungry, I've always eaten by times. Mom always taught me to clean my plate, and I still do that to this day. Grossly stuffed or not.

I've done a number of 5ks, 5 mile, and even 7 mile runs. I do it for the charity and the free t-shirt, but I never set a time goal for myself. By the time I get to the one mile marker in a 5k, people are already on their way back to the finish line. I'd love to be that fast, but my lack of commitment with training and being overweight has hindered that.

I'm trying to focus on positive reasons to change my lifestyle.

* Better health

* Lower health care costs

* Running faster

* Lower risks when I DO decide to have little ones (not anytime soon).

* Not having to buy bigger clothes! My closet ranges from size 14-6. I can't wait to go shopping in my closet again.

There have been some "negative" reasons that I would like to lose. I hate hearing, "She has such a pretty face," or "If she lost 20 pounds, she would look stunning." I'm tired of my mother in law calling me fat, my brother's soon-to-be wife calling me a fat ass, and I'd love to stick it to one of my old best friends for starving herself and popping diet pills. Everytime I think of these three people, I just get angry and eat. So now when I think of them, I will not let it affect me. I feel by constantly brining me down, they are battling their own personal demons. A positive attitude may not solve all my problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Let things roll off my back, if it doesn't apply-let it fly.

I was also invited by community partners to be on an Obesity Coaltion. I've attended two meetings, and I felt so out of place. Here I am trying to figure out ways to help the community become more active and lose weight, and I am obese myself. I felt like a damn hypocrite. The leader showed us a picture of his graduating class in 1967, and then showed one from the same school 40 years later. The children are twice the size as the 1967 class. What will the future hold for our children? I don't want my children to follow in my footsteps. Over time spent on the Weight Watchers boards and with my lady friends on Google, I feel I've gained a lot of knowledge about weight loss and exercise, but I have this issue with applying it.

So with this blog, I'm hoping it will hold me accountable to losing weight and feeling good. I need to learn to "eat to live, not live to eat."

Oh yeah...here is my Horoscope from The Onion:

Sagittarius: You will come face to face with your worst fears this week after standing in front of a bathroom mirror.

It's like, they have ESPN or something....

Upcoming race schedule:

Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure: June 12, 2010

The Bix 7: July 24, 2010

The Quad City Half Marathon: September 26, 2010