Notre Dame

What a whirlwind of a weekend. We arrived in Chicago Friday morning and drove into South Bend, Indiana home of the Fighting Irish. We were welcomed to Indiana with snow. I mean lots of snow, more than I have ever seen. We spent the day Friday looking at the campus and then going to the pep rally. We ventured out to some local bars that night. On Saturday we went back to campus to check out some more sights and then to the game. We arrived at the stadium and found our seats. The bleachers were covered in snow. Our feet sat in snow for the whole game. Nothing could prepare us for how cold it was. I think the temperature was about 21 or 22 degrees. It was freezing. We shivered through the whole game and found that the bathrooms had heaters so several trips to the bathroom were needed to defrost. It was an amazing experience despite the cold and the score. We ended up losing the game but to get to do something I have always dreamed about it made up for it.

I am still alive!

Where have I been? Not too sure. I finally got settled in to the new place with new couches. It was a pain to get the couches delivered but I finally got them. I'll first update the weight loss game. Well it has been ok. Learning to accept that this if forever has been hard. I have been really getting to eating more of what I want and working out and maintaining. I would like to lose about 10 pounds to be totally happy but it has been hard. Well I can't say really hard because I haven't really been eating right. I continue to go to they gym. I enjoy the gym more than I ever thought possible. It becomes addicting. I guess if I am going to be addicted to something the gym should be it. I thought the other day about how long I have been doing this. On December 29 it will be a whole year. That is crazy. I can't believe that I have put my mind to something for almost a year. I have to think about how some people can't even do it for a month. So I have set a goal for December 29th. I want to get these 10 pounds off by then. All along the way I have set little goals and figured setting another one would be helpful. I also thought the other day how blessed I am to have met so many different people. By going to the gym and weight watchers I have met so many different people that have been so encouraging. I had a lady stop me yesterday at weight watchers to tell me how inspiring I was. Inspiring??? It makes me keep going when I hear things like that. So you never know who is watching and listening to you and what difference you are making in their lives. Well I will be better about updating the blog. I am going to a Notre Dame football game in 2 weeks. Everybody knows that all my life I have been dreaming of doing this. This is my ultimate Make a Wish trip and I can't wait. I will post pics when I get back.

What I have to move???

I was so excited my apartment had power and water all I needed was gas. I found gas and only waited 10 minutes so I was very lucky. I get back to my place and it was great to be home. I start unpacking stuff from being at my parents house and getting settled. I went to Krogers to stock back up on things and I get the phone call. My apartment manager was calling to give me the bad news. At first she was icing the cake making sure I was OK and then she says that my apartment can't be lived in. What??? I mean there is some ceiling damage where you can tell that water has leaked in but nothing I thought that I would have to pack up and move apartments. They say that they have to go in and tear out all the insulation and replace some stuff and it makes the apartment unlivable. The bad news is that I have to pack up and move in the next 4 days. Luckily I am off of school until Monday. The good news, well I am getting a bigger apartment with a great view of the pool for the same price I am paying now. The apartment staff has been working with me and have been very accommodating. I told my apartment manager it is times like these that makes me want to eat. I have found boredom and being stressed out makes me want to dig into to something that is not on the diet. I have done good so far. Back to running and back on the plan. I will try and take some pics of the damage and post them.

The "Ike" Diet

I would like to start off saying that I hope everyone has made it out of the storm OK and that everyone is safe. My family and I were very lucky and had no damage to my parents house. Now my apartment is a different situation that I will go into later after I discuss my "Ike" diet. I was lucky enough to be close to my friend Kate's parents house and her sister's house so I had somewhere to go during the long days of no air and light. Why is it that when you hear hurricane you feel that you have to eat food that you know you shouln't eat. Once I heard hurricane the first thing I though was SNACKS. Boy did we ever snack, from pretzels, peanut butter and crackers, fritos, peanut butter cups, candy corn and oreos we had our fill of junk. I also broke into a shower cake that my mom had frozen. I took it over to Kate's parents and we dug in. It was really good considering it has been frozen since April. Eventually the icing melted off because it was so hot. We also had some good meals out of the whole thing. We had chicken sandwiches and that had meat for hamburgers. Megan's husband is a genius and cooked pizzas on the grill along with quesadillas. The pizzas were the best thing ever. Was it because they were really good or because we just wanted to eat??? The last night I spent with them we had fajita nachos. Krogers had enough food for us to get the stuff for nachos and Melvin had the meat. Ike ended up being damaging to our diets and not to our homes.

How better you can feel!

It is amazing how two days of diet and a good workout can make you feel. I feel so much better when I don't put junk into my body. I know every once in a while is ok with moderation but to be eating better is great. Today's workout was so so because I wasn't feeling to hot but going to rest up tonight for spin tomorrow. Thanks for all of the great comments. I have such supportive friends!

A Lifestyle Change

Most people blog about their husbands, wives, and children. I have decided to start a blog but I don't have any of those. I have a dog that I guess I could blog about but he is not that interesting. I have decided to do this to help with my lifestyle change. It all started in January when I decided to change my life. I began weight watchers and working out. I have since then lost 99 pounds but in the past few weeks have a gained a few back, this is why I am doing this blog. I need the therapy of a journal to get my weight back down again and to keep me motivated. I also want to share my journey with others so they can be supportive and maybe share it with others who have weight issues. I have become a different person along the way but I now need to keep this weight off and not go crazy. It is so easy to go crazy and that is what I have done in the past few weeks. I have been emotionally eating out of control and it is time to stop. Tomorrow is Monday and will be the beginning of a new week and a new me. I am getting back into it. I am getting back into the mind set of making the right eating decisions and mentally putting my mind back into the gym. Looking forward to updating everybody on my weight loss and keeping the weight off. The picture of me and the dog was taken on December 24, 2007 I was weighing in at 238. The next picture is with my friend Kara at my birthday taken on August 9, 2008 weighing in at 145.