Time to Get Real

People, I have gained weight. Seriously.

As in, I have gained 34 pounds since I went skydiving on May 8 of this year. Sure, that's almost seven months ago, but it is unhealthy no matter how much time has passed.  It was one year ago on Dec. 9 that I weighed in at 97 pounds lost; it was the most I've ever lost. I now weigh 40 pounds more than what I weighed that day.

At this rate, I'm going end up having to lose more than one hundred and 40 pounds in order to make it to my goal of being 100 pounds lighter than when I started.

I'm not sure where the whole "lose 100 pounds and never find them again" thing got lost, but lost it has been.

Here's the deal, I'm tired of time passing and my size staying the same or going up. I'm tired of my pants not fitting. I'm sad that I went to visit my extended family for the first time in 2.5 years and I didn't feel like I looked very different because I've gained so much weight back.

And yeah, running is still hard.  It's probably because I'm carrying around a large toddler's worth of weight on me. (I actually have no idea how much large toddlers weigh. Is 40 pounds an accurate guess? Can anybody testify?)

So what am I doing about it?  I set some Goals of the Week yesterday, and I'm sticking to them. I'm two days in and I've completed two workouts and one run. I've drunk 3 liters both days.

Next week I'm going to add some more.  I also downloaded a new calorie tracking Iphone app called Lose it.  It works the same way my Sparkpeople app worked that I have pretty much completely stopped using, but I'm hoping that the new format/program to learn will keep me interested in writing down my calories. 

I hope to check in with you more often with real posts about my progress, like this one, instead of just topical fun posts all of the time. Because if I do, that means I'm more accountable.

Goals of the Week

It's the Monday after Thanksgiving and that means back to the reality of trying my best at being a healthy person.  I've been so slack in anything resembling healthy eating living lately that I practically need to start over.

I think a big part of my previous success was based on the goals I set for myself. With that being said, I'm going to try and set smaller goals for myself each week that will contribute to the larger goal of losing weight.  So, here's to what I hope will be another regular topic here on Lost and Not Found: Goals of the Week. Here are my goals for this week:

• Exercise five times, 45 minutes each.
• Run three times.
• Drink at least three liters of water a day.

If I can achieve all of these goals, then next week I hope to add to them.
Do you have any goals this week?

Thankful Sundays

It's Sunday!  And that means it's time for a Thankful Sunday post! If that sounds odd to you, it's because I really should've written a Thankful Thursday post. Especially this week when Thankful Thursday coincided with the big one, Thanksgiving.  I know, shame on me.  I'm going to chock it up to two excuses: 1) I was busy celebrating with family and 2) Effingham does not appear to have wireless or 3G internet.

So here's what I'm thankful for today on this wonderful week of thankfulness:

I'm thankful to be home.

After driving 14 hours yesterday, I was/am wiped out. But I am so, so glad to be back in my own house with my own shower and bed.

I'm thankful I got to see my granny.

She's 92, but she's full of energy and love. She made us cookies and pies and homemade noodles. She put up with the six adults and two small children who invaded her normally quiet house. And she gives great hugs.

I'm thankful for these cuties.

You'd think 10 hours in a car with my niece and nephew each way would make me un-thankful, but it surely didn't.  They are both just adorable in their own ways and really remarkable car riders.  And when baby Ryan started screaming when we were thirty minutes from home last night, it didn't bother me, because I completely understood where he was coming from on that one.

I'm thankful for these cuties.

These are my cousins Sarah and Kim and my sister Mandy.  These girls are my oldest friends. Sarah and Kim and I have been the three musketeers for as long as I can remember and they make me laugh more than most people.  Side note: Sarah's shirt says "Santa's Little Helper," but my dad misread it and thought it said, "Santa's Little Leper." We got a lot of laughs out of that one.

I'm thankful for my friend April.

She writes a fabulous blog and asked me to guest post during her week of Thankfulness.  I tried to post it from my phone in my post on Wednesday, but it looks like it did not work.  Check it out here. She also created these beautiful wallpapers.

How was your thanksgiving?

Holiday Gift Guide for Health Nuts

Do you have a fitness nut on your Christmas shopping list?  Someone who lives to Zumba or is trying to pick up running?  Here's some quick ideas on what to get them.

Running for Mortals

The best how-to guide I've found about how to start a training program safely.

Endorphin Warrior Jewelry

I don't own one of these yet, but it's on my Christmas list.  While they have different types of jewelry at Endorphin Warrior, my favorite is the PERSEVERE bracelet. I think it speaks to me and my weight loss journey.

Powersox

Everyone gets socks for Christmas, right? Or was that just at my house? These are the best socks I've found if you're going to be doing a lot of sweating. They have a great moisture management fabric, that keeps your foot from getting sweaty. Less moisture=less blisters.

Running headband

Another item on my personal Christmas list? This Brooks running headband.  I love winter running, but I absolutely have to have my ears covered.  This looks like it will do the trick.  But make sure to get it in a fun color.

Kitchen Scale

If you're trying to get the scale in your bathroom to go down, then you'd better use a scale in your kitchen.  It helps you if you are actually eating the correct serving size by allowing you to measure out your ounces.  I've had one for years and I use it when I'm cooking to make sure I'm using the correct serving size of different items like meat. I'm not linking to one, because I can't find my exact model online.

Wow, looking over this list, it's not very exciting. If you want to inspire the exerciser in your life, perhaps you could head on over to Cafe Press and make a custom t-shirt or search their humongous database for one designed by someone more creative than you.  For example, look what I found:

Or check out Team Sparkle:

I'm not brave enough to run in one of these skirts yet, but maybe someday I'll be confident enough to sport some sparkles.

What's on your fitness wish list?

On the Road

Today, I am blogging from the way back seat of my brother's SUV. His adorable family and I are on our way to visit relations in the land of our forefathers, Effingham, Ill. Let's hope blogging on an iPhone doesnt make me sick.

As I was dozing back here in the pre-dawn light, I started thinking about roads. Some roads, like I-77 to Charlotte, I know like the back of my hand. I can tell you what all of the exits are, what/who can be found at each exit and what's the billboards say. I travel this road several times a week.

Other roads, like I-85 to Atlanta, I know reasonably well. I know all of the towns between here and there, many ofthe exits, and a few good places to stop and eat or get gas. I travel this road several times a year.

Now we're travelling a route I'm familiar with, but do not know well at all. I have to check GPS to get where I'm going and know only the major cities. I only go to Illinois every few years.

I love roads and maps. Can you tell?

I think there are some parallels here between life and roads. Some actions we repeat so often that it's like I-77 and others are less well-known. I feel like my diet cycle of kick starting, doing great and then ultimately reverting back to old habits is becoming like that stretch of I-77 on the way to Charlotte, but I want to bust out of the familiar and travel a new stretch of road. I want to see what's north of Charlotte, if you know what I mean. Let's get that started, shall we?

PS, I am only sorry for you that you can't see pictures of these super cute kids that in riding with. Blame Mobile Blogger, because otherwise, I'd be smothering you in cuteness.

PPS my friend April asked me to write a guest post on her blog today. Check it out.

PPS. Please excuse any errors. iPhones aren't perfect and they are a pain to edit on.

Interesting Two Weeks

Apparently 'interesting' is my new favorite word.  I wrote a whole post about it yesterday and it looks like I'm about to write another whole post about it.

Today's post is designed to catch you up with my life from the last few weeks when I was a non-blogger. Here's a list of the more interesting aspects in my life the last two weeks (in no particular order).

I went to the Taylor Swift concert and have become kind of obsessed with her and her music.
(Thanks to blog readers Mary and Cara B. for tickets!)

This is me with Taylor. She's in that bright spot that is shaped
like a tree.

I realized I have a secret talent for troubleshooting copiers.


I met a guy who saw a Bigfoot.


I bought this lovely  new Christmas tree, since our old one got broken last year.






















I pretended to be a professional photographer at my school's Homecoming last weekend. If you want to see the pictures, you should 'like' Winthrop on facebook. Just sayin'.


I stuck to my running plan and am now running four minutes/walking one minute.


I had a pretty awesome conversation on the phone with this cute three-year-old. She told me all about how her Ma did a Mud Run, but she will not do a Mud Run someday because she likes to be clean.

I have successfully avoided turning on the heat in my house. Blankets are key to this.


I played an awesome evening of all-star Mafia.


I got my hairs cut, so I'll be looking good when I see my extended family this week.


I ate way too many Reese's Christmas trees. Why do Reese's taste better when created in holiday shapes?

What's been happening in your life since last we blogged?

Just Be Interesting

I attended some training last week. As an icebreaker, the instructor wanted each table to get together, introduce each other and write down an interesting fact about themselves.  Then the tables would report out to the group the interesting facts they learned about their table.

Let me tell you, I've never seen a group of adults more unsure of what to say.  Because to volunteer personal information about yourself to strangers and declare it to be "interesting" is kind of putting yourself out there. Everyone said, "I don't have anything interesting about me." or "I don't know what to say."

Seriously? You don't think anything about your life is interesting? That's a problem we need to correct.

I was having trouble narrowing my interesting facts down to one thing. So I didn't. I shared two.
In case you're not sure what's interesting about me, here's a lovely "top o' the head" list for you:

I've been skydiving

I'm a triathlete

I completed the Mud Run

I hang out with high schoolers and happen to think that's pretty cool.

I make amazingly accurate Halloween costumes.

It helps that I've had a rather interesting year.  But even if I hadn't had these wonderful adventures, I know that I would still have interesting facts to share.

Maybe you have an adorable 3-year-old. Maybe you have a beautiful garden. Maybe you can name every team that won the World Series for the last 10 years. Maybe you are a fastidious saver.  Something about you, your family, your work or your hobbies must be interesting to you.  And if it's interesting to you, it's probably interesting to someone else. I know you find something about your life interesting. The trick is just to believe in it and to own it.

What's your interesting fact?

*As an aside, one day at lunch during training we were talking about hobbies and a man I had not previously spoken to revealed he is a Bigfoot researcher in his spare time.  I was instantly fascinated by him and hope I didn't scare him off by peppering him with questions.  And believe it or not, this was NOT his interesting fact from day one. I wish I had asked what it was.

Shaking the Blogger Bug

I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't been writing much lately and I've been seriously considering quitting the blog all together.  I had plenty of great reasons in my head: it takes time, I'm not doing so hot on the healthy eating thing, I'm kind of unhealthily obsessed with reader comments.

Turns out the blogger bug is harder to shake than you'd think, especially when you've been writing regularly for more than a year. I kept thinking of topics for the blog randomly, and kept trying to squelch them, but they kept coming.

I've also been busy lately (don't you hate that excuse? I hate giving it.) and just haven't felt like sitting in front of a computer when I get home from work.  But, I'm here to say that the blog is not dead. It lives! It just won't be as frequently updated as it may have been in the past.  I hope you'll stick with me, even if posts are less frequent.

Love and Kisses,
Jill

Follow up Friday

After writing last night's post, I went for my aforementioned run*. It was great.  Exercise really is the best drug you'll ever find.  It cleared my head and my headache, I saw a beautiful sunset, and I ran into two people I know, which is always fun. After the run my troubles seem farther away and I felt bad for writing a downer Thankful Thursdays. That's just not the purpose of Thankful Thursdays.

After I ran, I went to the grocery store to buy one item, but came out with a bunch of junk food I didn't need.  So, one step forward, one step back I suppose.  

I thought of a few new things to be thankful for. Mainly I'm thankful that I am able to learn new things fairly easily, especially if they are computer or spreadsheet related (not music related).  I'm also thankful that I am continually given the opportunity to learn new things. It keeps life from being boring.

Plus, a reason to be thankful for not sleeping well is that I'm eager to get up early. This morning I got up early enough to get in a swim before work.  This is awesome, because I will likely not have time to work out at lunch today. (Funny how this happened like a week after I vowed my body could not handle working out early in the morning here.)

The swim was also great. I got to think through a lot of stuff. There's nothing like a swim to think stuff over.  People say the same about running, but usually the only thoughts I have when running are about the tightness in my legs and the effort it takes to breath properly and when I get to stop.  

On the swim, I thought of lots of funny things (many of which I planned to include in this blog, but seem to have slipped my mind in the thirty minutes it took me to shower and get settled in at my desk at work. Sorry.)

*If you're following along, I completed week five, day two of this program. 

Anyway, Happy Friday!  It's the only November 4, 2011 you'll ever get, so make the most of it.!

Thankful Thursdays: November 3

Truth be told, I wasn't hit with a lot of inspiration when I realized today we were due for a Thankful Thursday post.  I've had a rough week - exhausting and stressful. On top of that (or because of that, perhaps) I'm not acting very healthy this week, which means I feel kind of gross and like I've gained a million pounds.

However much I'd rather complain, I'm going to ask myself to be positive and grateful for all that I have.  So here's a little twist on my typical Thankful Thursday post:

Not thankful for: temporary stress at work
Thankful for: a job that gives me ample holiday and vacation time, pays my house payment and other expenses and makes me a vital part of a caring community. Plus, I basically never left college, which is awesome.

Not thankful for: my pants feeling tight
Thankful for: the fact that I have food to eat; that I'm wearing a skirt tomorrow and pajamas all weekend.

Not thankful for: the lack of hugs I've had today
Thankful for: the many, many hugs I got from my daddy and my mama this past weekend.

Not thankful for: the tiredness that seems to accumulate around my eyeballs
Thankful for: having eyeballs and glasses and contacts that allow me to see. period.

Okay, enough complaining. I'm also just straight up thankful for these things:
My house appraisal came through and was  enough that I'm going to be able to go through with my refinance!
Three weeks until Thanksgiving!
I'm going running once I finish writing this!
My friends Meghan and Matt who are renewing their vows this weekend!
My bed!
My well-functioning car!
My gym membership!
Books!
The New Girl on Fox!