Friday - Mixed Bag

First I have to give a huge shout out and thank you to Jack over at Jack Sh*t for this post.  This really made my day today and gave me a huge smile when I read it. He's one of the first blogs I read each morning because I know - even when he's being silly and making me laugh - he will always give me something positive to think about.  If you don't regularly read his blog.....go check it out.

I'm chugging along with my 30 points a day (approx 1500 calories) and am going to give it a full two weeks before posting any updates or thoughts about it...so stay tuned. I am still walking 30-45 min on my treadmill 5-6 times a week and I am doing my own modified version of what I learned from C25K, although I'm not running, I walk faster during the intervals. I can actually feel the strength in my thighs and see some definition under the fat. This is pretty amazing to me and I've only being doing this consistently for about 5 weeks.  I am also making a huge effort to cut out (as much as I possibly can) processed foods including white sugar, white flour and white rice.  I've done this to a great degree already, but there was probably 1-2 servings a day of those items (total, not each!) in my diet so my goal is to replace them with whole grains.

The few straggling servings were mainly due to lack of planning and being lazy, since I can control both of those habits - I should!!

I was also a Diet Coke/Coke Zero/Diet Pepsi addict and some days would easily drink up to 2L a day, I'm down to one can a day with lunch now. I know diet pop is bad for you, but that's not what made me make the decision, it's that I don't think I was hydrating my body properly and I was drinking that stuff instead of water. Since doing this, about 3 weeks I guess...my skin is definitely clearer and fresher looking - I've gotten several compliments the last week asking if I changed my makeup or cleansing routine  - pretty amazing what water can do for ya! Other than the diet pop thing, I don't have an issue with caffeine, I have a cup of coffee in the morning on weekdays and occasionally a cup of tea after dinner.

I am returning to tennis this weekend after a short hiatus with my tennis buddy, Tina, and we are looking into another class we can do together in the Spring. She has some arthritis issues as well so we need to find something low impact for both of us...we are really interested in kick boxing, but I'm a little worried that might be too hard on my joints - top of my list right now is Body Flex so I can build up some muscle for when this fat melts and starts to show them again.

Weather here this weekend is supposed to be gorgeous and although I do have some commitments I need take care of, I am hoping to fit in a longish walk as well.

I am also hoping to wrap up Beck in the blog here over the next few days as well, I think there are 4 days left and then two following chapters. It is a huge sense of accomplishment to me to know that I followed along the plan this long and have learned so much from it.