I found out today that I will not be attending the last class of this session of Biggest Loser. But before you think the worse, I have made arrangements to go for my last weigh-in on Wednesday on my way out of town. I stopped by the fitness center today to let Vera know I wouldn't be there and why and to pay for the next session. She told me that while they can't say anything for sure until everyone weighs in on Thursday, she could say that I was a contender for winning the contest. Since it is by percentage, I have lost over 10 percent of my body weight.

Now, to the reason I will miss. There is a thing that happens every year here in Arizona (also in Wisconsin) called Country Thunder. It is four days of camping and country stars. I have been the last 7 years, and wasn't sure if I would be able to go this year. But today I managed to get my hands on some tickets and a camp site. I already had the days on the calendar to be off work(it gets put on the calendar at work as soon as the dates get announced). So off we go again this year. In the past my daughter and her husband as joined us a few times. Other friends have joined us. And my best friend has been there as well. This year, my best friend will be there, but because of getting tickets at different times, our campsites are no where near one another :-( It's okay, though. We can still hang out together. While it's true I have already seen all of the headline acts, it doesn't matter. It's Country Thunder!!!

For anyone that is a country music fan.......here is the lineup.


WEDNESDAY - APRIL 1, 2009
6:30 - The Bellamy Brothers
8:15 - Jake Owen
10:00 - Diamond Rio

THURSDAY - APRIL 2, 2009
2:00pm - Zac Brown Band
3:30pm - Keith Anderson
5:00pm - Little Big Town
6:15pm - Williams & Ree
7:00pm - Rodney Atkins
9:00pm - Montgomery Gentry

FRIDAY - APRIL 3, 2009
1:00pm - Harry Luge Jr.
2:00pm - Hal Ketchum
3:30pm - Jason Michael Carroll
5:00pm - Heidi Newfield
6:15pm - Williams & Ree
7:00pm - Tracy Lawrence
9:00pm - Tim McGraw

SATURDAY - APRIL 4, 2009
1:00pm - Tim & Willy and The All Earl Band
2:00pm - The Lost Trailers
3:30pm - Jack Ingram
5:00pm - Neal McCoy
6:15pm - Williams & Ree
7:00pm - Blake Shelton
9:00pm - Alan Jackson

Tonight was my first night back out my 2 miles. It went well. I did my spurts of running during the first mile on the way down. By time I was headed back, it was already dark, and it was tough to see the ground. I ran some, but walked more because of that. I was running errands after work and racing to get home before the sun had set. I could watch it sinking as I was fighting traffic to get across town. Three months ago, if you told me I would have the attitude of racing the sun home so I could get out and walk/run, I would have laughed at you. Any easy excuse in the past would have been fine for me. But I don't want excuses.....I want success!

Since I will weigh in on my way out of town Wednesday morning, I won't be able to post the results until I get back on Sunday. Until then.....wishing everyone a great week ahead!

Okay, time to catch up and explain. First, I didn't make it to my weigh-in on Thursday. I wasn't feeling well for many reasons, and once I got home I just didn't get back out again to go. But let me back up a bit.

A couple blogs back I talked about getting new shoes and how much I loved them. Well, I didn't talk about them as the week progressed. My first night out with them had been great! I was able to run more than I had before, so was excited about getting out there Monday night. Well, Monday night I went out and had the worst two miles I have had yet. Nothing felt right, I could barely get any running in, and I was feeling some pain. I figured it was because with new shoes my feet were hitting differently and so using the muscles differently and that was what I was feeling. So I mostly walked my two miles and came home very disappointed, but not giving up. Tuesday night I went out and did better, but still had pain. Same thing Wednesday night. Thursday, I mentioned this to someone at work, and they said it sounded like something they had gone through....shin splints. So I looked it up online and it sounded right. Okay.....the Mayo Clinic website said to stop the activity and to do something like swimming or biking. So now I was bummed. I don't need any excuses to not do this, I can find those all too easily on my own. But I felt that I really needed to not do the workout Thursday night. That was the final straw that kept me home. I also wasn't feeling well in general, with sinuses bothering me to include a headache, felt awful because of that time, and just felt worn out. So I stayed home and slept.

Now, Friday is usually my night off from working out, so that gave me a second night off. Saturday is normally our hikes, but our primary hikers have started back on a softball team and there was a Saturday morning practice, so no hike. Okay, so now that has given me three days off. I took my shoes and went back to FeetFleet to explain the problem I am having to see if they felt I needed to try another shoe or inserts. After explaining it all, we decided to give inserts a try. So now I am suppose to wear the shoes around for an hour or so before I start working out in them again. I have to go to work tomorrow, so I will wear them in for awhile. Then I will try to get out for my two miles again tomorrow evening. I have been told that when I get back, I need to stretch my calves, and then ice down my shins, and I should be able to get past this. If things are not better in a few weeks, then I have to go back to try a different type of shoe. I want this to get better. I don't want an excuse to not do this. I don't want to be someone that is told not to run. Granted I don't really do a lot of running right now, but what I have been doing is working, and I want to get better at it, not have to cut back. While losing weight is wonderful, my main focus here is that I want to get healthier and be healthier, especially with my heart. There are so many problems in my family, I don't want to go down that road. This WILL get better, I just know it. I have to be patient while I work through it.

As for the weigh-in, well, I had a doctors appointment on Friday, and while her scale may not match the one used at Biggest Loser, it had me down at least a little. Different time of day, different clothing, different scale, etc. But it's all good. I feel confident that I didn't gain anything. Only one week left of this session. There was an article in today's paper telling about the contest. They used quotes from one of the contestants that has lost 10 pounds. The article said there were some people that had lost 10-20 pounds. Since they used 20 as their top end number, I am hoping my 22.3 (as of last weigh-in) is a forerunner. But, the winner is to be decided by percentage, not total pounds. So we will see.

Tonight will be weigh-in, and I'm concerned. I just don't feel that I've lost. I've been pretty good this week. I did have a meal on Saturday night that was outside my diet. (We went out to dinner with friends for Mexican food......I challenge you to find low carb food in a Mexican restaurant..........okay...maybe I didn't try hard enough...lol) But I have worked myself everyday. I was a bit bad yesterday......well...maybe half bad? It's that time of the month and when that happens I crave chips SO badly. Many women crave chocolate.....not me. I assume it is the salt I am craving, but other salty things don't cut it.....I want chips. Well, yesterday for lunch I had not taken anything, so I went into the grocery store to get an acceptable lunch. I was doing so good......and then there was that craving again.....and there I was in a store just full of all kinds of choices....all of my favorites. Well, I didn't do the completely right thing and just say no, but what I did do was buy some GenSoy chips instead. Not potatoe chips, not tortilla chips, but soy chips. Fewer carbs. Not great, but better than a bag of Doritos or Lays would have been. So I was bad about giving in, but I was good about making the healthier choice. Anyway, we'll see what this all means at weigh-in tonight. I'll let you know.

What a difference! I actually did it. I went to "FleetFeet" and was fitted for shoes. I had been feeling like something wasn't quite right with the way my right heel felt in my shoes. At a workout at BL one night, someone was running behind me and said she could see that my right foot wasn't hitting quite right and how she had gone to FleetFeet and what a difference it had made. So, I decided that once I got my tax return, I would go check it out. I did so tonight. After all the measuring and such, I was put on a treadmill while they recorded my bare feet walking. There it was, right on the screen.......my right foot doing it all wrong. She brought out four different style shoes for me to try on and as we eliminated two, I was left choosing between two. I made the choice and came home to try them out. WOW!!! I can not tell you the difference they made! Seriously! They cost me $105, but worth every penney! Tonight's run/walk was after eating, which wasn't the best thing (I do much better before I eat.). I've been running and walking in intervals over my two miles. I don't have any formal measurements happening, just run until I feel I need to walk, then walk until I am ready to run. However, there is a sign at the end of the road that says 1000 feet to dead in. I know, it's only 1000 feet, but for me trying to make that full 1000 feet without stopping at all has been my big challenge. Tonight, I did it!......only one direction, but hey. I'm anxious for tomorrow night now, so that I can do it both directions! Here's to the start of a great week ahead!

Here it is Thursday, again. Weigh-in night. Let me start by saying I did something every day this week. Saturday was the hike, Sunday Steve and I took a fast paced 2 mile walk, Monday I did my run/walk 2 miles, Tuesday I met Connie and walked the indoor track for two miles (with a few of those laps jogging), Wednesday I again did my run/walk 2 miles, and then tonight was our Biggest Loser workout. So I worked it all week. And the results?...............Down 4.1 pounds!!! That makes a total of 22.3 pounds in 10 weeks of BL. I am quite happy with that. Today at work as I was going into another office, someone stopped me and said "you are losing your butt". Thank you for noticing!!! I have to admit, all week I have felt fat. I didn't think this would be a good week. Today I felt a bit more positive, guess the butt comment helped...lol. I was definitely surprised with the results. I like the idea of not having a good scale at home so that I don't know until weigh-in. The scale we do have, I step on now and then to see if it looks as if it's going up or down. But because the scale is so fickel, (I can step on it three times and get three different numbers), I don't put a lot of faith into it. Tomorrow is Friday, and Friday is usually my one night of the week I don't do any workout. If we go out with our friends, I barely have time to get home from work and changed to head back into town. And that's okay. After this week, I deserve the night off :-)

Weekend went well. Went to a BBQ/Party Friday night........FOOD EVERYWHERE! I did really good, though. I drank four bottles of water while there, had a hamburger, no bun. I did end up taking a couple bites of cream cheese pie off Steve's plate. Did plenty of dancing to burn it off, though....lol. Saturday morning was our hike. We went to a new area to try some new trails. The map showed the trails, but didn't show the elevations. We headed out on a trail that kept going up and up. I don't just mean an incline, I mean a climb. We kept thinking it was going to crest at the top of what we could see, only to find just before the top it would go around behind it and take us up farther on the next "mountain". A couple times we debated about going back, but decided to move ahead. It was a real workout as it was a real climb. We finally did get as high as it was going to take us. With relief, we knew we then only had down to go. Well, we decided that we liked the "up" better. Going down was quite treacherous at times. I can't believe how steep parts of it were. The side we came up on had a maintained trail, this one was not. There were lots of loose rocks and soil. At one point I lost my footing and went down. Fortunately I fell backwards and landed on my butt. I had a water bottle in one hand, so that hand was okay, but the other hand got messed up somewhat. (And yesterday I could feel it in my ankle.) We blamed it partially on the shoes I had on, as they are a pair of warn out sneakers. (I am headed out to get a pair of true hiking shoes next weekend.) So we continue on, and eventually my friend takes a fall, also. So now comes the embarrassingly honest part. There were three different places on this trail that became so steep that I literally sat down and slid my way a foot or two until I could get better footing. So at moments I was a bit nervous. However, we made it down and felt so good that we had done it. I would love to do that same trail again in reverse. I would rather climb the unmaintained part and go down the better part. By time I got home, I was sore in my shoulders and back from catching myself with my arms. I ended up climbing under a blanket and taking a nap. Yesterday, I didn't do much, but did take my two mile walk. I am including a picture from the hike. This was taken before we got to the top. Those are actually houses you see out there.

Last night was weigh-in. Down another pound. That makes a total of 18.2. But even more, I crossed the 200 pound barrier! I weighed in at 199.2. How wonderful would it be to think of never seeing the 200s again in my life? I am afraid to get too excited, though, because it's just barely under. Never know, next week could end up being my first gain week with the BL and I could see it again. But you know that it gives me even more reason to behave this next week! Also, it means making a doctor appointment for a physical. I told my fiancee that I would make the appointment once I got under 200, because I didn't want to have that on my physical. Now.....what are the odds his scale will be as kind? I figure my BL weigh-ins are always in the evenings, so if I can get an early appt with the doctor, that should help, right? Isn't it funny the little games we play to beat the scale?

On a different note, I got to see my granddaughter get her first award in front of her school yesterday. Principal's award. I still can't believe she is finishing up kindergarten this year!

Just want to share a good feeling. Tonight I worked later than planned, so decided instead of stopping at the gym I would come home and do my two miles. Usually I walk it at a fast pace, and sometimes try to run a little here and there, but don't get much of that in. Well, tonight I can say I ran half of it. Not all at once, in intervals. But that means I ran a total of about a mile. I was actually concerned that because I have been doing other kinds of workouts the last couple weeks, that the walk would feel like I had lost progress. Evidently, those other workouts were of the right kind to keep me up to par and then some. I find that the running doesn't better my time because when I walk between the runs, the walk is a bit slower than my fast walk as I catch my breath and let my heart rate slow a bit. But that's okay. I'm not worried about the time, but rather the increase of the workout. The road that I take has several "hills", so I made sure that everytime I came to an incline, I ran it. The very last one on my way back home was a challenge, especially being right at the end, but I did it. The whole experience felt wonderful! Now, here's hoping it wasn't a fluke.

David.......A hula hoe is a contraption that you use to scrape the ground to get up weeds. A few moments into it, and it's not a fun chore. I had never heard of one till living here. You would not believe how fast desert weeds take hold in my yard....it's a nightmare.

Okay, so I did manage to get over to my place to do a little yard work tonight. Not a lot, but some. I used the hula hoe in my front yard and then raked it. My side yard needs lots of work, but I knew I didn't have the time to give to it tonight. So while I didn't get a real workout in tonight, I did at least do something to be in motion. While there I decided to grab a bite before the workshop. We have our big freezer there, so figured there would be something. I found chicken strips, but once I started microwaving them, it was apparent that they were not good. Not sure how long they have been in there. So, I ended up being bad and heating up a few toquitoes. They were so good, but so bad. I hate to think how many total carbs I ate. So one small victory....at least managed to do something before the workshop, but a defeat because I gave in to food I shouldn't have. Additionally, the workshop was just a waste of time. I would have been better off just skipping it and getting in a good workout. Oh well, water under the bridge now.

Well, I didn't do yardwork tonight. I called my friend to confirm we were doing the 5:30 class and she suggested we go to the 4:3o class as well. So I rushed out of work to get there. The first class was another class with the big balls. It was good. Then we had a little time to kill before the next class, so I got on a bike machine and rode 1.85 miles. Then did the 2nd class. So I worked out for one hour and 45 minutes straight. It definitely felt good. In one week I have come to feel so comfortable at that gym. But tonight was the last night of the free pass. And I just can't afford the commitment financially required to join. So, tomorrow I am back on my own. Depending on what time I get done at work as to what I do. I think I am going to a workshop at 6pm. I am hoping to get off work and either hit the track or go by my place and do some yard between work and the workshop. If I can get my butt to work a little earlier tomorrow, then I can leave a little earlier affording me the time to do something.

Well, here it is the end of another weekend. They always seem to go too fast. I pretty much behaved this weekend with food. Our Saturday hike was only four miles this week, and not extremely challenging terrain-wise. I was bad today and didn't go for a walk or anything else. Tomorrow night I am suppose to join my friend in an exercise class. I have time to kill between work and the class, so I will probably go do yard work at my house. Working the hula hoe on the weeds is definitely an upper body workout.

Only four weeks left in this round of Biggest Loser. I was thinking about it today and wondering if I stand anywhere near having a chance of winning. We say who the biggest loser is each week, but I have no idea where things stand with overall weight loss. Those that have been the biggest loser could have gained some back afterwards. In fact, I know several of them did. So maybe I do stand a chance. But with four more weeks left, anything could happen. I need to think about this as an additional motivation to keeping to my plans of food and exercise. If by some surprising chance I did win, it would give me the money to sign up again for the next round. But I can't count on that as I may not even be in the running. Guess we'll know in four weeks.

Well, I've done it again. I've let a whole week go by without blogging. It seems I get on here and start reading everyone else's blogs, and then I don't have time to write my own. So now I have to catch up again.

The weekend went well. The first afternoon we were out camping, I had such a huge urge for chips. More specifically, nacho flavored doritos. I mean, what is camping without chips, right? Steve agreed about wanting some and said he had thought about bringing some, but knew it would be tough for me. At that point, all I knew was I wanted some. The next day he asked about getting in the car and finding the nearest store so I could get some. And believe it or not, I told him no. Believe me, I did want them........I could almost taste them. But I stayed on track and behaved while we were out there.

This week, I have to confess, I did sin. Three words........Girl Scout Cookies. Oh man. Tagalongs. I bought a box of them from someone at work and had them in my office fridge. Well, I did eat a couple a day until they were gone. Well, a couple a couple days, more than a couple on a couple days. I know, I know. I should have taken one and then dropped the box off at the office next door and got rid of them. Each day this week on my way to work I would think how I needed to do that, but then I didn't. Well, they are all gone now. So no more temptation in the office. And it will be another year before that temptation is at my door again.

Otherwise, I have done well this week. Got my water in most days. Stayed good with my food. My friend got a week-long pass for me to go with her to her gym, Ms. Fit. So I went with her Tuesday and Wednesday night. First night we hit machines for cardio and some arm machines. Second night we took a class with the big balls, then hit the cardio machines again. Tonight we had our biggest loser class. I'm not sure yet if she is planning on going tomorrow night. But we have our hike this Saturday, and then I am going with her on the last day of my pass on Monday to a Zoomba class (that is an uncertified Zumba class). So I have definitely been moving this week.

Tonight was weigh-in. Down 1.7 pounds. Making small weekly strides, but hopefully they will stick. That is now a total of 17.2 pounds lost. I'll take it!