The Weather Outside is Frightful...and a Fitness Update

This past weekend this is what my front yard looked like. I actually ventured out in this to make sure I got to my Weight Watchers meeting! Why would I shovel the driveway and venture out on the icy roads just to see how much I weigh you ask, well after a very long time I FINALLY broke through my laziness induced plateau and am now less than 15 pounds from my goal. I am under 160 for the first time in years and I really needed to have it recorded LOL

I realized how far I've come over the past two years and how great I feel. I managed to shovel our 3-car garage sized driveway and I barely broke a sweat - nice! I feel great and my clothes are getting looser - finally. It is amazing what happens when I eat right. I don't diet, that is a quick fix for a long term problem, I have learned how to eat and truly enjoy healthy foods and also how to enjoy other foods I love in moderation. I could no sooner give up wine than oxygen - just saying!

As the new year approaches I am thrilled that I am closer to a healthy weight, not an anorexic weight, just a healthy one! If you are planning on one of your New Year's resolutions to be to lose weight I highly recommend Weight Watchers, it is not a diet, it is something that you can live with no matter how crazy your life tends to be.

Cheers

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?

Well, I don't know about wise, and wealthy is a definite no go, but as far as healthy goes, I am feeling pretty darn good. As my long time readers know I have been slowly working on being healthy. Yes, I want to lose some weight but my main goal is to be healthy and hopefully not dependent on medications as I age.

For the past 18 months I have been going to the gym regularly, working out with weights and doing a half-assed job at Weight Watchers.

My weight is very, very slowly going down. VERY slowly! Part of that is the weight training. Since I started working with weights I have lost a total of 12 pounds but I have lost 15% of my body fat. Technically I am still overweight but I am feeling pretty good. I love to work with the weights and even though I am currently recovering from "tennis elbow" I have been able to continue to use weights in my fitness routine with just a few adjustments.

I have successfully incorporated exercise into my life and I am now beginning to look more closely at my diet. Because I lead a fairly social life and eat away from home at least twice a week I have been slow to look too closely at my diet. I am not willing to give up my social life so I am starting to look at ways to eat in a healthier fashion while still enjoying the meals out. I'll keep you posted as I find tips and tricks that help in this area.

A couple of months ago I stopped drinking Diet Coke. That was a painful thing for me. I love the stuff but I felt that I needed to remove those chemicals from my diet. So far so good. Since I last wrote about it I have not had a single caffeine laden soft drink. Not even while on vacation. I am really pleased with that! My main beverage is water to which I add lemon, mint or melon, to add a bit of flavor. I have reduced the amount of artificial sweeteners in my diet by a huge amount. Artificial sweeteners are the exception instead of the rule now and I have increased the amount of fruits and veggies in my diet. All changes which have made me feel great.

Now I need to work on my weekday meals at home and those pesky meals out. Breakfast and lunch are easy, dinner is a bitch! I work 10 hour days and when I get home I don't want to cook. My wonderful man cooks and he is really making sure to find healthy meals but I need to step it up and start cooking more.

Skinnytaste.com is an amazing site that I have mentioned before. I have been getting fabulous meal ideas from this site as well as Slenderkitchen.com. Both of these sites have flavorful meals that also include nutritional information as well as Weight Watcher point values, which makes it easy to incorporate the meals into my Weight Watchers lifestyle.

I have less that 20 pounds to go to reach my goal weight(I am shooting for the high end of my weight range). Hopefully I'll be doing a happy dance here soon. In the meantime I will keep on plugging away and will continue to incorporate  healthy habits into my life. I plan to share my progress and any tips, tricks and recipes that help me as I continue along my way.

Winter Pagan Fitness Challenge – Week 3 Check In

For the mini challenge this week I did two things, first I threw the ball for my son’s dog Sophie, I’ve talked about her before, the only thing she wants to do is fetch. She will chase her ratty old tennis ball until YOU drop, she has yet to tire out (even when we tag team it!). Second, I thought it would be fun to do the http://skinnyms.com/summer-arms-challenge/.

The first day of the Summer Arms Challenge was a breeze, I already lift weights so I was able to complete day one with no problem, day two however kicked my butt – in 4 minutes! Day two consists of 20 Tricep dips followed by the 4 minute Tabata workout – Oh My! You work out for 20 seconds then take a 10 second rest then move on to the next 20 second interval. You do 4 different exercises per set (20 second each with a 10 second rest in between) and 2 sets for a total of 4 total minutes. This workout is said to burn fat for up to 36 hours after you complete it. After my first try I can see why. My heart rate was high and I felt like I had just run a marathon! Of course, once I was finished recovering I felt great, seriously great. I had just completed my second day of the 7 day Summer Arms Challenge. Thankfully, the day after that workout was a day of rest, from the arms challenge and my morning treks to the gym. By Tuesday of this week I had already earned 12 Broom Points with another 12 anticipated, which is a good thing because I did enjoy my wine over the weekend.

What the Tabata workout showed me was that I need to incorporate additional cardio into my workouts, walking 4 miles per hour, which is as fast as I feel comfortable walking before I start running, is obviously not doing what I need it to do, and I can’t run due to my bad knees. So, when I went back to the gym Thursday morning, after my weight training, I changed the program on the treadmill. Instead of walking a random pattern of hills I chose to do the hill program that takes you slowly up a hill and then slowly back down (twice), having you work at each “elevation” for 1 – 1 ½ minutes, I do 30 minutes of walking so it was traveling one hill per mile. My incline was roughly 6.2% at the height of the hill. This workout got my heart rate up nicely. Friday morning, since I work out with weights at night a la SkinnyMs.com Arm Challenge, I chose to increase my walking to 50 minutes and upped the level to 8. The workout is still spread out over only two hills so you work longer at each elevation. The peak this time was 6.4%– I was working hard Friday!

Aside from the wine indulgence this week was pretty good. I found a good Yoga DVD along with another one on Meditation techniques that I really like (Elemental Goal: Air), I drank lots of water (Elemental Goal: Water) and tried to eat fruits and veggies with every meal and snack(Elemental Goal: Earth).  That is something that Weight Watchers is promoting, eat a fruit or veggie with every meal and snack. So I am working on it.

I earned 18 broom points which makes me very happy. I hit the gym 4 days and did the Skinnyms.com Summer Arm challenge exercises 5 days (Elemental Goal: Fire).

Overall I am happy with how this week went. I worked on all four of my elemental goals which make my approach balanced and makes me feel good (Elemental Goal: Spirit) and which will ultimately help me get healthy! Yay!

This morning I went to my Weight Watchers meeting and found that I had lost 1.6 pounds! Not too shabby. Now, I am off to focus on day 6 of the Summer Arm Challenge!

WInter Pagan Fitness Challenge Week 2 Check In

This morning I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting of the year. I did gain a bit but I expected that so now I am officially weighed in for the challenge, I have my goals set and I am heading to workout in just a few minutes.

I feel good. Last year I yoyo’d up and down but I managed to finish the year with an official 8 pound loss. Not too bad for half-assing it all year.  I attribute the loss to my consistent exercise and the fact that I really am much more aware of my diet since I am a long time Weight Watchers member with a goal of eating healthy, tasty, food.

This week I worked on each of my elemental goals:

Earth: I search online for clean food recipes. I tried out a zero calorie beverage that was sweetened with Stevia instead of an artificial sweetener and I started to clean out my fridge and cupboards of old and heavily processed foods.

Air: I have started my search for a yoga class that will work with my schedule. I am going to start using my Yoga DVD’s today and will continue until I find a class that works.

Fire: I went to the gym once last week but I also cleaned my house top to bottom and made my own natural, green, cleaning products (check out this post) so I earned 8 broom points. This week I plan on earning a minimum of 14 additional points.

Water: I did drink more water this week but have not started weaning myself off Diet Coke yet. I normally only have one Diet Coke a day but this past week I went out to lunch with my co-workers every day and drank diet soda during the meals so I drank a lot more than I normally do. This week I am working on only drinking 1 per day then next week I will drink one every other day, the following week will be the first week that I completely eliminate it. I have a plan!

Spirit: I am pretty happy with the way this week went, overall, I worked on each of my goals, I have a plan and that makes me feel good!

Have a wonderful, healthy day!

Fitness Update

St. Pete's Beach Florida

When I get stressed, overly tired or out-of-sorts, I think of the beach and last month I spent a lot of time thinking about sandy shores and clear blue water. Even though the Fitness Challenge has been cancelled, I am working hard to get healthy and fit. After coming to the realization last month that my diet is directly related to how I function on a day to day basis I have tried to step it up when it comes to my health.

Until recently I was half-assing it with the healthy habits. I do work out 3 - 4 times per week and I was mostly eating healthy but I wasn't balanced. Since I am hypoglycemic that is not good enough. This has been brought home to me in a rather irritating way. If I eat in unhealthy ways, if I skip a nutritious breakfast or if I load up on junk or fast food, my ability to think dwindles and my ability to create - gone! Nothing like the Goddess to give me a swift kick and tell me to get it together or be a scatterbrained, uninspired, nut - hmmmm, I think I'll eat better!

I've lived with hypoglycemia for most of my adult life. I never had too many problems, if I forget to eat I end up in lala land but since my family recognizes the signs they usually remind me to eat(I have been informed that I am very much like the "Horseless Headman" in the Snickers candy commercial - when I don't eat). Unfortunately, making sure I eat is no longer enough, now I have to eat things that are good for me! Fortunately, there are a lot of good, tasty foods that are also healthy.

So, with that wake up call still ringing in my head I have cut my diet Coke consumption to 1 a day and am slowly weaning myself off of it. I no longer eat artificial sweetener and water has become my friend.

This lifestyle change isn't easy. Sometimes I would really rather have fast food but it just isn't worth it. I refuse to spend the rest of my life, how ever long or short it will be, in a daze because I chose not to eat healthy.

So there is my health rant/update for the week.

SkinnyTaste.com

One of the best websites I have found for healthy, flavorful recipes is skinnytaste.com.

Created by Gina Homolka, this website is full of beautiful pictures, tons of recipes, step by step directions and can be searched by food type, by Weight Watcher values and more. There is a recipe box tool that allows you to save your favorite recipes in one place right on her site or you can print them in .pdf version.

Another way to follow Gina is on pinterest. You can link to her pinterest boards through her website.

So far, every recipe I have tried has been delicious and my family loves when I am making one of her recipes!

Enjoy!

Fall into Fitness Challenge Goals

I am a little late to the game but here it goes:

My Elemental goals

Earth: I plan on focusing on eating a balanced, natural food diet. I want to eliminate some of the processed foods that I eat. This will be a gradual and ongoing process

Air: I will be adding Yoga into my exercise routine on a regular basis. Yoga is great for the mind as well as the body and I believe this will be a great benefit for me, helping me to lessen the effects of everyday stresses as well as strengthen my muscles.

Fire: I plan on earning 150 broom points - minimum! I try to get to the gym between 3 and 4 mornings each week and work out for about an hour each time. In addition to this I will be working on my Etsy Shop as well as my other artistic endeavors, Art is my passion and that is something I will be focusing more on in the coming months.

Water: I will be upping the amount of water I drink and eliminate that darn Diet Coke. I know it is full of chemicals, I know it is not the best drink for my body so I will be saying goodbye to my longtime favorite beverage so that I can improve my health - I believe it will be totally worth it!

Spirit: Achieving the above will nurture my mind, body and soul. Meditating on my goals, working towards them and achieving them is what I consider my holistic approach to this challenge, encompassing all of the elements in my goal to be healthy and fit.

In addition to the above elemental goals I have another, measurable goal, I would like to lose about 8 pounds by the end of November. I believe in losing weight in a slow, steady and healthy way.

As you know if you read my blog regularly I am a current, sort of practicing, member of Weight Watchers. I have been slowly focusing on this program in a more serious way and am starting to see progress on the weight loss front. Weight Watchers is not a diet, it is a way of life, a healthy way to look at food and exercise that you can actually live with regardless of the lifestyle you have. I refuse to eat diet food. If it isn't full of flavor what is the point? Check back tomorrow for one of my favorite online healthy recipe sites.

Fall into Fitness Challenge 2012

I am so happy that Serenity Raven of Get off Your Broom is hosting the Fall into Fitness Challenge. Her challenges have always been thoughtful and focused on total health and fitness rather than on just losing weight!! I am a late joiner but am looking forward to the challenge.  This time the challenge will be focusing on the elements. Click on the picture above or the link to the right to get more information on this fantastic fitness challenge.

Fitness and Health Update

Yippee! The work is FINALLY paying off. Every year the company I work for requires us to get a “Health Screening” to qualify for a reduction in our health care premium – totally worth the time to do and the information I get on my health is invaluable.  This year they were offering FREE cholesterol, blood sugar and body fat % tests as well as a free Flu Shot. Now I am not one who is usually excited about getting blood sucked out of me or getting shots for that matter, but since I have a family history of high cholesterol I normally pay for that test every year and I really wanted to know my body fat percentage. I know, sounds like a bad idea, especially since I have only lost 5 pounds since January BUT I wanted to know anyway.  I am still waiting on the blood work but...

Drum roll please… my time at the gym is definitely paying off to the tune of a total body fat reduction of over 10% since January - YES! I still have a little ways to go to get to what is considered a healthy range but I am so much healthier than I was!

The cool thing is that I really like working out now. I actually get up at 4:00 AM (seriously and yes I am a morning person) and head over to the gym. I have noticed changes in my body, the flying squirrel flaps that were threatening to go wild on my arms are gone, I have biceps that you can see and I am much stronger that I was in January. I am at the gym 3-4 days a week and loving it!

The next step on my get healthy plan is to actually, really, truly, follow the Weight Watchers plan. I half-ass it and have pretty much maintained my weight while toning up, not too bad but I want more. I want to head into the Doctor’s office in January and redo that body fat test and see another 5 – 7 % gone! I am building a better, healthier me and I feel great.

One step at a time…

Back from the Cruise- Get Off Your Broom Fitness Challenge Update

So the cruise was pretty awesome. We had a great time and I will share some of my favorite things from my vacation later this week.

While I have not had an official weigh in this week and I missed one last week, I did manage to get on the scale this morning and I am happy to report that I only gained 3.5 pounds on the cruise!!!

How did that happen? Well let me tell you, I mostly adopted a pescatarian diet. I ate lots of fruit and veggies, fish, shellfish and some dairy. I avoided the red meat and went with lighter desserts though I did have a couple of rich desserts that were totally worth the calories.

The food on the cruise was amazing, the portion sizes were perfect and I did not deprive myself, seriously, I won't be going on another vacation for a while so I enjoyed myself but I didn't go crazy. We also walked, a LOT! So the combination of smaller portions, more fruit and vegetables and extra exercise really did the trick!

I now have a list of foods that I want recipes for to try at home. I had a black cherry soup that was amazing!

I am still trying to catch up on everything so my next post will have lots more information.

All  in all, even though I am up a bit from where I started, I expect to end this challenge at the same weight I started at, since this means I won't have gained weight over the holidays AND during my vacation I will consider it a success!!

Get Off Your Broom Fitness Challenge Update

MM Everyone,

This was a fairly good though hectic week. I am doing a quick check in before I go finish shopping for Thanksgiving and the Cruise  (Yikes, we leave the day after Thanksgiving).

I stayed the same, that is a good thing, I've eaten out most of the week so the fact that I did not gain is awesome. I exercised 2 times formally this week and also got in some good cleaning workouts.

That is it. I'll be checking in early next week.

BB

Get Off Your Broom Fitness Challenge Update- Week 6!

Finally, I got it together. This week I actually lost weight! SO I think I am back to where I started *grin* but that is better than posting an overall gain. I feel better this week.  I have rearranged my schedule and I think I will be more successful now with the numbers on the scale.

This week I actually got on my treadmill and walked! I also cleaned my house (I worked up a better sweat doing that than I did on the treadmill), and I moved furniture (lots of big stuff) at the office.  I am pleased with that. I did play fetch with the dog everyday but until I can get her to throw a tennis ball for me I have decided not to count it as exercise.

One of the mini challenges was to think about why I joined this challenge in the first place. My reasons were two-fold, I wanted to join because I like this type of group challenge where people are working towards the common goal of being healthy. The second reason was that I really like the online community that I have found here and wanted to become more active within it.  I know that the holidays are a tough time to try to lose weight but as long as I don’t give up I’ll eventually get there and already the people I  have met and the support I have found are just amazing.  I am really glad that I joined.

I’m going to post more later-on today. I am off to play with my girlfriends! Have a lovely day my friends.

Ger Off Your Broom Week 5 Update

This week was bad. I was hormonal, emotional and just wanted to eat so I ate. I can't blame it on the candy in the house, I have had a piece or two but it wasn't a proximity issue, I was just on this mindless binge!

Over the past 2 years my hormones have gotten more intense during that one week of the month and yet for some reason I have selective amnesia and completely forget about it. This time I decided enough is enough. I am tired of being uncomfortable in my own skin and the mindless hormonal eating isn't helping. SO I have made myself a note in my datebook and plan to keep that issue front and center so I can lessen its affect on me.

Let's face it, I am cranky, sad and feeling fat so lately I eat lots of junk which is making me crankier, sadder and feeling fatter. Hmmmm anyone else see a problem with this pattern LOL

The cool thing is that I did realize my problem before the end of the week (see post here), if I can get it together and stop the gain part of the equation I am going to rock the weight loss world!

On the mini challenge front - I did exercise 2 times this week. Not too bad for such a horrible week but I plan on doing better with exercise this week and will meet the goal of 5 times this week.

I did great with the fruits and veggies. I eat a lot of these so it was an easy challenge for me - yeah!!  and then the water...

SO I did better with water. I am weaning myself off of Diet soda - I know, I know, that is really bad stuff but I don't drink coffee and I really like my Diet Coke, but for my health I am going to stop drinking it.  Yes, that hurt to write. Anyway, this week I made a point of drinking a couple of bottles of water at work between my 2 sodas per day, tomorrow starts 1 bottle per day - ouch, and I also drank more water at home.

The week ended on an OK note. I did take my measurements and to my surprise my chest and hips are down and nothing is up. I also did a spell for strengthening my will this morning. I will let you know how it affects me in the next few weeks.

Have a wonderful week.

Get Off Your Broomstick - Week 4 Update

I posted earlier that I had a BAD week. After the Las Vegas trip I thought I would be fine with everything else... not so. Fortunately I did manage to only gain 2 pounds so I consider that a victory. If you read this post you'll see that I was up a bit more than 2 pounds earlier this week and I was not happy about it.

Alas, it is a new week. I have already exercised, I am back on track with my healthy eating AND with the mini challenge in mind from last week I have crafted a set of two spells to aid me in my journey. One, to be done during the waning moon is a simple banishing spell, my intent is to banish my mindless eating and the extra weight I am carrying around. The 2nd is to be done during the waxing moon and is to help me with willpower and determination. I will report back on these next month and if they helped me I will share them.

The other mini challenge was interesting. I eat a pretty healthy diet. I love fruits and vegetables, I don't eat a lot of meat and overall I like healthy foods. My downfall is that most of the social things I do involve food. We do potlucks at work, several times a week I have lunches out with friends and coworkers, at least once a week I have dinner out with my hubby, of course then we have the birthday celebrations at home and work... you see what I mean. Now I know I can enjoy all of these without gaining weight and after the pain I was in earlier this week I will be much more aware of what I am eating at these frequent festivities.

One of the reasons I like Weight Watchers is that it is not a diet but a lifestyle and it looks at food in a realistic way. Balance is key. I can enjoy a nice meal out, a glass or two of wine and even dessert. I just have to watch my portions and make sure my diet is including lots of water, fruits and veggies. With me it always comes back to balance.

Something I noticed this week, when my diet is out of control and I am not thinking about what I am eating not only do I not lose weight, I usually feel, well, icky. I am less productive, less creative and just cranky. I am looking forward to a healthy, successful, creative week!

For this week I will be working on exercising 5 times and drinking plenty of water. I eat lots of fruits and veggies already so I will at least meet one of the mini challenges.

Have a wonderful week!

Oh my... what a week!

This week I had really planned to eat healthy. That sooo did NOT happen :( Between the wine (ok, I don't know if I can count the wine), my wonderful son's 22nd birthday party, the potluck Halloween party at work and then a couple of lunches out... I am pretty sure I gained about 5 pounds! IN ONE WEEK! I refuse to get on the scale today, just not happening! No way, no how!

I do know that I gained weight, even without getting on the scale since both my left hip and my back hurt. I joke with my hubby that I am (well I was last week anyway) at my maximum weight capacity because if I gain more than 2 pounds I start to hurt and I hurt right now. Ick! I know I will lose it but dang it, we leave for a cruise to the Caribbean the day after Thanksgiving and I would rather lose weight than have to re-lose weight, if ya know what I mean!

Ok, my itty bitty pity party is over! I am back on track and have my workout plan for tomorrow. I think it is time to get off the Yo-Yo plan and start on the weight loss plan!

Thanks for letting me whine!

AutumnWind

Get Off Your Broom Week 2 - Check In

MM all,

Last week was stressful and hectic. Fortunately none of the stress was related to bad things, I am just trying to get caught up at work after moving our offices and since I leave on Tuesday to do several presentations FOR WORK, I have been playing catch up with my regular responsibilities and preparing for presentations and to top it off I taught a class(I teach classes on art stamping and paper crafts - I sell rubber stamp products as a hobby), took a class (I am taking a jewelry making class this semester), and my hubby was out of town. Whew!

The mini challenge topic about Stress Eating was responsible for me not going completely over the edge with my eating. Most of the time when I was just reaching mindlessly for food I caught myself and stopped, not all the time but quite a few of them.

Of course since my husband and I went out to dinner on Friday I showed a gain at my official Saturday Weight Watchers weigh in, up 1.8 to 168.2 -, this morning I weighed myself again and I am back down to 167, even after the heavy dinner I had last night so I am really only up by less than a half a pound- that is something I am actually pretty happy with. Usually with an over-the-top week like the one I just had I am up about 2 pounds minimum and it takes me all week to get back down, this time I was up the weight of my dinner!

I did not exercise, normally when I don't exercise it is because I am being lazy :) This time I was running from about 5 am till about 11:30 pm each night and I NEED to sleep or I become irritating! SO I choose to not feel guilty about it, I did drink lots of water and ate fairly healthy with lots of fruits and veggies as snacks.

This week I will be in the lovely city of Las Vegas providing presentations for work. The hotel I stay in has a fitness center and this trip I plan to utilize it. I will be checking in on Sunday again next week since I don't get home until late Saturday. So my plan for the week is to maintain my healthy eating, get in 3 days of exercise and drink lots of water.

When I get back from my business trip I am going to slowly wean myself off of Diet Coke - I love that stuff but the caffeine and chemicals are counterproductive to my goals so it must go.

The mini challenges this week should be fun - I have already taken my measurements so tracking them has begun and investigating craving just sounds interesting.

Have a wonderful week...

Week one...

Hi everyone,

After one week on the "Get Off Your Broom" fitness challenge I am down 1.4 pounds to 166.4! Yippee! That makes me very happy. Now to keep it up! So far I have been eating more fruits and vegetables and really watching my processed foods intake. I love the Weight Watchers program because I can have treats, apple cider doughnuts for instance, and still lose weight. My main goal is to be healthy but I feel so much better about myself when I weigh less than I do now.

This week I will be adding formal exercise in the form of Yoga, walking on the treadmill and basic weight training that I will be doing at home using the books "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" by Lou Schuler and Cassandra Forsyth and "Strength Training for Women" by Joan Pagano. Both of these books came highly recommended by other women on the Weight Watchers message boards. I'll let you know what I think in  a couple of weeks.

So a before picture... this is much harder than I thought it would but here it goes anyway...

Here I am at 167.8 Ouch!

I was not brave enough to put on a bathing suit for this but I will be posting a picture of me in a bathing suit sometime in mid-December since my hubby and I are going to the Caribbean the first week of December. Yet one more reason to "Get off my Broom!"

Good luck to all my fellow challenge participants! We CAN do this!

Get Off Your Broom Fitness Challenge - Day 1

So I did it, I signed up for the fitness challenge.

To date I have:

Taken a before picture. Not sure if I will post that or not but I do have it. maybe I'll post part of it- ahhhh, decisions, decisions.

I have weighed in - I am currently a Weight Watchers member so I know that tragic little detail-and I believe that I have a plan and it is a good one - Follow the Weight Watchers plan - OK 'nuf said

I will take my measurements later on tonight - yikes, I've done it before but I will do it again and if I am feeling brave or if I decide to post AFTER a glass of Merlot then I'll post them here for all to see - accountability is the key :)

I will share this... my current weight is 167.8 - ouch! However painful that number is to me right now, I started out my weight loss journey 5 years ago and 35 pounds heavier. My goal with this challenge is to lose between 10 and 15 pounds, add regular exercise into my week and cook at home at least 4 days a week,

So, after I take my measurements all three of my steps for this weeks mini challenge will be completed. I am leaving for a dinner meeting in about 1/2 hour. I am planning to eat a small portion of what ever is being served and then tomorrow I'll start adding exercise to my week.

Thanks for stopping by, I promise, this space will be much more visually pleasing in the weeks ahead, I just had to jump in so I could be a part of this fabulous challenge.

AutumnWind