Health and Fitness Friday: Being MIA and some more progress!

Happy Friday!!

Today I'm linking up once again to Jen's Health and Fitness Fridays! 

I'll start today by saying that I have been MIA due to my severe clumsiness!  3 weeks ago while carrying Nate downstairs after his nap I slipped on some clothes that I threw down the stairs earlier and fell down the last 5 stairs.  If you have seen my stairs you know that they are pretty much a 90 degree angle up so this isn't the first time I have fallen....because like I said I suffer from a severe case of being too clumsy.  Well, back to my story: so as I was falling I leaned to the side so that Nate wouldn't get hurt and somehow I managed to get my left leg caught between me and the wall going the opposite direction....yes, It hurt like Hell!  I was pretty sure that I broke it, as I was getting pissed at myself just thinking about the bill I would get if I called an ambulance to come and get me I realized that I could get up and somewhat walk.  So, I just sucked it up and because I am a mom and my job is never done I continued to do my everyday activities and dealt with it.  I'm pretty sure I sprained both my knee and ankle and since I put off going to the doctors by the time I went they really couldn't do anything...opps....  So, long story short I had to take 3 weeks off from working out and I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed it!  It was crazy how much I missed working out! SO, I'm finally back!  I started back up with some light workouts on Tuesday and seem to be doing well with minimal pain!  AND I was able to keep my weight in check through no workouts and Thanksgiving!

In light of that really long paragraph that really could have been explained in like two sentences I do have some good news to share!  

*****Drum Roll Please*****

I hit my first weight loss goal yesterday!!  My first goal was to get back in the 250's which is where I was before I started having kids.  Obviously that's not where I want to be but it works for me right now!  

Since August I have lost 23lbs and have finally hit 259!  

I am making progress, I'm hopeful that I will be totally back on track within the next couple of weeks and have given myself a pretty big goal for December!  I want to be in the 240's before the New Year.  I know I can do it if I push myself and get back on track with my eating so what I'm asking you all to do is make sure that I am staying on track!  Keep me accountable! 

To End here is a video for your viewing pleasure! 

If you have never heard of Mike Chang look him up.  I have started doing some of his Ab workouts and they are awesome! 

Until Next Time....

Christmas is just 25 days away so It's Sale Time!

With Christmas just 25 short days away I have decided to offer a different sale each day until December 17th!  

At CadyMayDesigns we offer many accessories that make the perfect Stocking Stuffers!

From newborn to Adult these hair clips may be small but they make a BIG statement in your hair! 

For TODAY ONLY Buy any Daisy Clip get a coordinating clip set FREE! 

(Daisy Clips can be custom ordered in different colors if you don't see any you like.)

If you are not into Hair clips we also offer some other items that make great gifts!  

Be sure to head over to CadyMayDesigns  and get a custom one of a kind piece for the special person in your life! 

Thankful Day 4 and 5

Day 4: I am thankful that my hubby has a job that supports our family and allows me to stay home with our kids.  He sacrifices so much for our family and we don't always see each other a lot, however, it will be worth it in the end. 

Day 5: I am thankful for my sisters and brothers and their families.  We are growing on a daily basis, we are not perfect, we argue and fight and hardly agree on anything but I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Until Next Time....

Thankful

I'm a couple days behind....but that's not surprising since I am always late....to basically everything... :-)

Day 1: I am thankful for my amazing, understanding, caring and patient husband. 

Day 2: I am thankful for my children. Who on any given day can make me smile and cry at a drop of a hat but I still love them more than I can ever put into words. 

Day 3: I am thankful for my parents. 

For obvious reasons, without them I would not be who I am today. 

Until Next Time....

Fitness Friday: Encouragement

Its that time again! I'm linking up to Jen at A Daily Dose of Davis for Fitness Friday! 

If you would have told me 6 months ago that I would be participating in something called "Fitness Friday" I would have laughed at you.  Fitness has never been real important on my priority list.  I just figured, I've always been fat and probably always will be so I just need to accept it and embrace it.  Well, I'm here to tell you that's crap!  That is one of the worst excuses anyone can make and it was one that I used almost daily!  Yes I have always been overweight.  Yes I have tried to accept it and be comfortable in my own skin, but there comes a time when enough is enough.  I have been fortunate that even though I am obese I have managed to stay pretty healthy. All of my tests always come back great and I even had a Dr. tell me that my cholesterol level was shockingly good!  But, I can't keep telling myself that my body is ok.  I can't keep making excuses.  

So, I started changing my life.  I started slowly walking around the high school track in the evenings.  Then one day I pushed myself to run as fast as I could as far as I could.  I probably lasted about 10 seconds and went like 5 feet.....I don't know the exacts but I know it was sad.  I could barely breath, I thought I was going to die right there on that track.  But I was damn proud of myself for at least trying!  So from there I kept going.  I pushed myself more everyday. And soon I could feel myself getting stronger.  I knew that sooner or later I would get stronger and start to loose some weight and begin my journey to a healthier me BUT what I never really thought about was all of the encouragement that comes along with sharing the journey.  I have never felt so special and included and encouraged and that is what keeps me going!  My Operation LGN group is amazing!  They accepted me with open arms, they are there to let me know that I can do it when I feel ready to throw in the towel and they are just awesome!  I can honestly say that I love these ladies and they inspire me everyday! 

Speaking of inspiring people, I have never really thought of myself as being someones inspiration.  I have always just been me, never anything spectacular, never anything bad, just me.  Last night, I did my nightly check in with our group.  It went something like this: Tried Zumba Wii tonight...Ive got NO rhythm!  Here is one of the comments I recieved: Steph, I have fallen so far off the exercise wagon I can't even see it on the horizon anymore. YOU have been the only reason I haven't left the group all together (not that the rest of you aren't equally as wonderful!) I started walking again this week hoping to catch that wagon & hop back on. Your humble attitude and your amazing perseverance are truly an inspiration. Good for you!! and thanks for putting yourself out there!! 

I sat there speechless not knowing how to respond....  WOW!  To think that my story, that I almost didn't share by the way, can inspire someone is amazing!  

2 months ago I was the fat girl who made excuses and just dealt with the fact that I probably would always be the same.  Today I am overweight girl who is taking control of her life, changing herself inside and out and I guess inspiring others to do the same!  

When I took my "Before" picture I fully intended it to just be seen by myself and the ladies in Operation LGN.  I wasn't quite ready to put myself out there for the world to see just quite yet.  Well, because I'm a dork, instead of uploading it onto the fitness group wall I uploaded it onto my personal Facebook page wall!  My first instinct was "CRAP CRAP CRAP!!" Delete! Delete! Delete! Then my worst nightmare (at that time) came through....Notification....Someone commented on my picture... You got this, buddy!!, And then the next: You can do it!!!!  

Instead of people calling me fat, laughing at me, judging me, they were encouraging me!  They were all routing for me!  So I left it.  I figured, what the hell, people have already seen it so the damage is done.  That was on August 4th.  Since then I hadn't really thought about showing my progress on my wall.  I showed it on my blog and in our group so it didn't really occur to me that my friends on Facebook would want to see it.  So, yesterday I decided to post my recent progress picture.  39 "LIKES" and 24 "Comments"!!  WHAT!?! 

So I guess what I have been trying to say in this 30 page research paper is that Encouragement is key to keeping yourself on track!  To know that people are routing for me and waiting for my updates is what keeps me from eating that raw cookie dough and sitting on my butt all day and all night.  

 Thank You from the bottom of my heart to anyone who has ever shared an encouraging word with me.  I Love you all and I appreciate it more than you know! 

Until Next Time.....

FLASH SALE!!

is having a 

Today and today ONLY!!  

Everything in our sale album is $2.00 a piece shipped!  I have never sold anything for this cheap before so get them while they last!!  This sale will last until Midnight 10/10/12, these will go fast so get them before they are gone! 

Fitness Friday: Inspiration

Linking up to A Daily Dose of Davis's Fitness Friday today! 

First I wanted to share a little inspiration, I have needed this a lot this week.  This week has been crazy busy, I have had meeting after meeting, running all over the place and the last thing that I have wanted to do when I get home is workout.  But..... obviously, I have to, I need to and deep down I want to!  

I'm not awesome at any exercise. Most of them I'm not even almost good at but I have realized that all that matters is that I am attempting to do them.  I am moving and sweating and sometimes making weird and creepy faces but the fact is I'm doing it and that's all that matters!  You can do it too!  I am by no means an expert, I mean, I still have 100 lbs to loose but if you need motivation or support or even some ideas on what I have done so far send me an email!  My lifestyle is beginning to change and it feels great!  I am still not perfect with my food choices but I have been better at keeping within my daily calorie goal, so its still a work in progress.  

To close this post today I wanted to share with you my latest progress photo.  It has been 2 months since my first picture and there's no stopping me now! 

I wish all of you an awesome weekend!  It's Homecoming Day here in Three Rivers so we have a busy day of school spirit, pep rallies and the parade tonight! 

Until Next Time.....

The Motions

This song has been weighing heavy on my heart today.....

Fitness Friday: 30 Day Shred

An AWESOME Bloggy Friend (Jen) of mine has started a Friday Blog post called Fitness Friday and I have been meaning to link up to her since she started and it seems like I either forget or can't think of anything to blog about!  SO, I'm so happy that I finally remembered before Saturday!  

If you have been tagging along with me along the last few months than you know that I have been on a weight loss/get fit and healthy journey so I'm going to use this post to update everyone on my progress.  I started working out consistently towards the end of July but I took my official "Before" picture in August and I'm using that to help document my body transformation because the scale hasn't been so nice to me lately!  

Here is the latest picture:

Can you see the difference??  The biggest change I can see is my "lower roll" has significantly shrunk.  If you don't know what part of the body that is I'll explain it a bit, lol.  If you look at my stomach, I have an "upper roll", a "tire" in the middle and a "lower roll"...sure the names aren't correct...but I have to have some sort of comic relief right!?

So.....I kind of fell off the C25K wagon (SUPER BUMMED) this month because I developed shin splints so I have been trying to nurse them because I REALLY miss running!  It's so weird to hear myself say that.  I mean, I'm still over 100lbs overweight but in the short time I have been working out I have accomplished things I never imagined that I could do!  And running was top on my list of things I couldn't do.  But I seem to be proving that list wrong everyday!

Because I couldn't run well at the moment, my sister and I started Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred.  

I would be lying if I told you it was easy!!  She kicks my B-U-T-T!!  We finished Day 10 (Level 1) on Wednesday and started Day 11 (Level 2) yesterday....All I can say is Holy workout! My results haven't been the greatest yet but I just keep telling myself that we aren't even half way done yet so hopefully I see some soon!  It would be nice if I could be one of them that loses up to 20lbs like she says on her DVD but at this point, I'm just happy with losing some inches!  So far I have lost 2lbs (I was at a 6lb loss but a few of those came back so I'm officially at a 2lb loss and a 1/2 inch on my hips.  

I'm excited to link to the other posts and see all the great things we are doing this week!  Come back soon, I will be updating along the way and I hope to soon introduce you to a smaller, healthier Steph! :-)

Until Next Time....

I'm just......here.......

I'm exhausted today....physically and emotionally...I'm not sure if I ever remember crying as much as I did today, I just couldn't stop it.  I couldn't control my breathing and calm myself down, it just wouldn't stop.  Kinda wishing I was somewhere nice and tropical and quiet right now.  Somewhere that I can just get away from it all for a bit.  Its just overwhelming and I'm not sure that I can hold it all together much longer.  I feel like I am working so hard to be a good role model and its just not working.  People close to me just seem to not care about anyone else but themselves and they keep making one bad decision after another.  What they don't realize is that it doesn't just affect them, it affects everyone around them and I'm tired of feeling like I'm the only one that is concerned about certain situations.  I'm tired of being called the bitch because I speak my mind and try to guide them in the right direction.  I'm tired of being tired.  I just don't understand it anymore, sometimes I wish I wasn't the oldest sibling so I didn't feel pressured to be the responsible one.  Why can't I do stupid things, be disrespectful and irresponsible and cause others pain?  Why can't I be involved in illegal activities and just think that I am invincible and that nothing is going to happen to me because I'm smarter than everyone and think that I know everything??  Why can't I just forget about my responsibilities and have everything handed to me and not actually have to work for anything?  Why?  Because I know better.  I have morals and beliefs and I'm entitled to my own opinion and you better believe that if you mess with them I will turn into the "Crazy Bitch" that you think that I am.  I used to think that you just made some mistakes in life because you were young and that you would learn from them but now I know that you will never learn.  You will never change.  You will never care about anyone but yourself and you will never care about who you hurt along the way.

I can honestly say that I'm just done.  I can't deal with it anymore.  I can't let my own family suffer because of stupid people.  But I also can't just sit back and watch all of this crap happen around me....What am I supposed to do!?!  Just shut my mouth and forget about it?  If something serious were to happen how will I be able to live with myself knowing that I knew what was going on but just shut my mouth?  How can anyone be ok with that?  How do people do it?  

I guess what I just need to do tonight is go to bed and start new tomorrow....but you better believe that I will not forget about this and I will not stop fighting for what is right. 

Until Next Time....