Ok, I confess, I completely forgot to take my measurements today. No idea where I am, though I’m assuming it’s not good, LOL!

I have a project I’m working on (almost finished) that’s part of a much bigger project, and as I’ve already learned, I can really only intensely focus on one thing at a time. The project is almost finished – just some tweaking and updating required now – and so I can get back to this starting now.

In spite of everything I did manage to keep walking most days, and my eating wasn’t terrible – just not as disciplined as I would have liked. I did let everything else slide…

This morning I got up on time, did my water, my tonic, and my breakfast as prescribed (woohoo!) and I’m on track for finishing the day well. Got my walk scheduled for this afternoon, so I’m cookin’ with gas already.

I promise to check in properly next week.

How about you? How are you doing with your goals? Share below! Maybe we can encourage each other.

Happy Walking!

Darlene

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Be A Star! Post your comments below and join in the conversation (or get it started!) and then share this post with your friends using the different share buttons on the blog. I'd sure appreciate it! Thanks!

Who is Darlene Hull? Click here: www.darlenehull.com to find out!

My friend Laurette of “PraiseMoves” posted a brilliant thing on her blog a couple of weeks back.  With her permission, I’m posting the first bit here, and if you want to read the rest, just click the link – it will take you back to her blog.

Most of us are accustomed to thanking God for our meal before we start eating. What I propose is encircling our dining experience with praise.

In Isaiah 55:2 the Lord says, “Listen carefully to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul be satisfied with abundance.”

Do you see the three parts of that scripture?

1. Listen carefully to Me
2. Eat what is good
3. Let your soul be satisfied with abundance

Read the rest of this entry »

You definitely want to read the rest.  Brilliant stuff, this!

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Still heading in the right direction – very encouraging! LOL! I feel like I’m “back in the swing” which is great. I’m back to walking, and was delighted to find that this morning’s 2hr interval walk required some real pushing to get my heart rate high enough. Looks like the long hiatus wasn’t all bad.

In fact, I’ve been thinking a lot about rest and rhythm these past couple of weeks. Two weekends ago I nearly killed myself getting a HUGE project taken care of. I never got out of my PJ’s the whole weekend, and only stopped working to eat and use the toilet. By Tuesday I had a migraine that lasted 2 days. I rarely get headaches, so this was truly unusual.

This past weekend I also had a big project I wanted off my list. I started, however, by walking, showering, dressing, having breakfast, poking around a bit and making some connections on the Internet. Then I focused on the task at hand while listening to music that made me feel good. I took breaks, made sure to “hang” with the family, helped others with their projects, and managed to get everything done – and more – that was on my list.

This type-A, super driven person is realizing that a relaxed but focused mindset accomplishes MUCH more than when I’m driven and tense.

This morning I started my day with a walk again. A hard walk. A pushed walk. However, I still made sure I was listening to stuff that inspired me, and I took time to admire the stunning nature around me as I walked. Again, a relaxed but focused mindset.

Very cool. Try it out. You’ll like it!

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Get your own graph at skinnyr

LOL!  This is not looking like it should!  Talk about a roller coaster!

The past month has been spent mostly on my butt.  This is certainly not helpful!  I headed back out for a walk today now that my foot is properly healed, and after having spent a highly focused weekend clearing my plate of a few enormous projects that have been hanging over my head, not the least of which was a new business launch.  I also ripped and categorized 500 songs, created 127 playlists for my classes, and prepared 7 lesson plans in preparation for teaching this week.  All of the latter was for Gymboree.

That being said, I should have considerably less stress now, and my walking will be more regular.  Let’s turn this graph around!!!!

I do have a busy day ahead, so no superfood post today.  Watch for that next week!

Happy Walking!

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Get your own graph at skinnyr
Here we are again, things are lookin’ good!  I’m quite happy with my progress considering I have so little time right now to pay that much attention.  I’m also too busy to be bored or to snack, so that helps, LOL!

I continue to research effective ways to lose weight and get healthy and on our next shopping list I’m going to be putting those items I need to follow Tim Ferriss’ food plan: How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days… Without Doing Any Exercise.   Looks yummy, is very doable, and is incredibly easy.  Lots of yummy food, too.  I will, of course, be doing exercise with it.

We’re now finally back to walking, again!!  This time, I need it to stay without injury or hassle.  I really miss my walks!  This has been a long hard season!  The sun seems to have arrived for summer, though, and we’re hoping the snow will now stay away until December at least!!! (yes, folks, this is Calgary.  It can snow any month of the year – I’ve seen snow in August…)

Ok, so what is today’s superfood?

Rhubarb!

This one’s kind of cool, because we don’t hear about it often.  I LOVE rhubarb, but my husband hates it, so we don’t eat it often.  I love it stewed with a little sucanat and mixed with natural yogurt.  Mmmmm.  We usually think of rhubarb as a fruit, but in fact, it’s a vegetable from the same family as sorrel and buckwheat.

So, why is it good for you?

• It’s high in dietary fibre
• rich in potassium and vitamin C.
• possibly plays a role in helping menopausal women deal with hot flashes!!!  Researchers believe there’s something in the root that mimics a form of estrogen, but they’re still looking in to it.

How to eat rhubarb:

• this article lists 7 options for different ways to try rhubarb
• You can find some healthier recipes for rhubarb here – just use a better sugar than standard white.
• Here are some that have slightly less standard ingredients, but much healthier results: Spring Rhubarb and Strawberrries

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Get your own graph at skinnyr

Well, my graph is once again going in a much nicer direction!  Pleased with that.  It’s been a good week.  Part of the success lies in the fact that I only had two shifts at Gymboree this week, and it’s the end of the two week cycle for this lesson plan so I was pretty much on top of the lessons.  That, combined with three days off plus a “long weekend” (I don’t work today, either) really lowered my overall stress level, and it’s a well-known fact that stress can seriously contribute to weight gain.

The one drawback I did have was that we finally had everyone in place to celebrate my birthday and my son’s birthday (our dates are 2 weeks apart) and this year we’d promised the kids we’d go to the Bear’s Den which has the most awesome, delicious food, and there’s lots of it.  I decided to simply go and enjoy myself.  I shared a “Bear’s Den Delicacy” with the rest of the table, then moved on to an 8oz bison tenderloin with steamed veg and grilled potatoes, and finished off with a truly palate-pleasing seasonal berry crème brûlé, which, in my mind, is always a fantastic way to end a delicious dinner – light and sweet and creamy.  Mmmmmm!  You can see the menu here if you want to know what you missed!

BUT, I was able to counteract that with a nice long, 18km. walk on Saturday, so that helped burn off some of those extra calories.

Here’s what I learned about weight loss this week as I mulled over last week’s sorry disappointment:  you’ve really got to want it.  It has to be important enough to say no to those things that will not only add weight, but will, ultimately, make you sick, sluggish, and toxic whether you’re trying to lose weight or not.  Our bodies are finely tuned machines, and we treat them like garbage bins.  We let the desires of our trained and addicted taste buds tell us what we will or won’t eat, and then expect all those lovely, internal organs to “clean up the messy kitchen” – and the truth is, they’re tired.   Junk foods really are bad for us (that’s why it’s called “junk food”!)

I’m going to be doing some more thinking along these lines over the next couple of weeks, but I’d love to hear your comments and reactions.  What have you discovered?  Where are your struggles?

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Yeah, so this is not looking good.  I thought about hiding, pretending it didn’t happen, posting something brilliant that would distract you, or simply lying, but decided to ‘fess up, clear the air, and start fresh.

So what happened?

Wow. I’ve spent some time pondering this.  Understanding is often the key to success, so I wanted to understand what went wrong here.  In my last post on my weight loss results I talked about the importance of focus.  That still applies for sure, though I can say with confidence that I am now feeling a little more in control of the day-to-day stuff.  I’m settling in to my new job, we’re getting a bit of a schedule here at home, and the general overwhelm is lessening.

This last week, however, was exhausting.  My first week at work where I was basically solo, long days of high energy, next to no walking (that’s a biggie for me) and WAAAAY too much chocolate in the house, which is my biggest downfall.  Because I’ve been so incredibly tired I’ve been looking to food to get an energy “kick” and not only do I not get the kick, the fatigue makes me eat thoughtlessly and unhealthily, so because I’m not nourished properly, I get more tired, and the vicious cycle continues.  I cannot resist simple carbs when I’m tired.

Of course, these are reasons, but not excuses.

Yeah.  So on the weekend I redid my training schedule so it fits in better with my new schedule and lifestyle, got rid of the sweets in the house, and am heading into a MUCH slower week.  The out-of-town trips are over, the crazy training schedule is done, the panic and overwhelm have subsided, the training program is in place, and I had a fairly restful weekend, so I’m thinking we can start fresh, and get a better run at this starting now.

Wish me luck!

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Get your own graph at skinnyr

So this is what I’m learning:

Health and wellness take focus.  With the addition of a part time job to my already hectic schedule, I am feeling overwhelmed and a little stressed.  The first thing to go are my health goals.  Silly.  I actually need my health to deal with the stress!

Most importantly I’m needing to find a way to create better structure to contain all the “bits” flying around in my life.  This will help both with the stress, and the attainment of my goals.

So while I’ve been doing less than stellar at reaching my goals lately, I am still committed, and looking for a way to make this happen.  I will NOT allow these setbacks to throw me off permanently.  I do my best each day with the energy and focus I do have, and give myself some grace for where I fall.

Life is all about grace, after all!

Happy walking!

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Last Monday was so crazy, I completely forgot to post my results. Sorry about that!  Here are this week’s:

Get your own graph at skinnyr

Not as good as I’d hoped.  I learned some important things this past week:  Bring your own food, and don’t forget to hydrate.

I was out of town for three days last week.  Two 12-hour days were spent in the car (not a lot of exercise there…) and the day in the middle was just plain nutty.  Junk food was the main menu, though mostly Timmy’s, so except for pretty high sodium and other unmentionables in their soups, I did OK with their garden veg sandwhich.  I drank too much tea and not enough water.  Sleep was definitely NOT on the menu, and I did no walking while I was away.  Friday was another workday and my dear son’s 17th birthday, so walking was minimal.  By Saturday I was undernourished, dehydrated, and over-tired.  This made my race on Saturday only so-so, and I was pretty sore by the end of it (details on Wednesday)

So good lessons learned, and results are MUCH better than expected.  Though I gained a slight amount of weight, I still managed to lose an inch or two where it counts, so I’m happy.

Today is a new day, a new week, and a new month.  I am looking forward to stellar results!

Darlene

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It’s obvious from anyone reading this blog, that I’m passionate about walking, and that it’s really only prolonged grey days of bitter cold – and frostbite – that hinder me from getting out the door.  Even then, I’ve walked a lot of miles in some pretty nasty weather.

Still, after all the miles I log (and last week I hit my 2,000,000th step milestone!) I am still struggling with my weight.  Now that Dee McCaffrey is on board with me, I know what’s in the way, but I’m having a hard time putting it into practice (isn’t that always the way?)  I have all the answers but none of the will-power or focus necessary to make it happen – like the rest of you trying to lose weight!

So, with Easter behind me and my last “young” birthday soon to arrive, I’ve decided that I MUST get this under control.  Can’t coach others if I can’t coach myself, right?

Therefore, I’ve signed up with www.skinnyr.com to get a graph going, which, as you can see below, is currently blank… It will hopefully be showing a lovely downward trend over the next few weeks.

Get your own graph at skinnyr

Every Monday I will log in here and post my results. Smack my fingers if I’m not behaving!

Darlene

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