Here it is a week later. I worked hard for half of the week. Friday, Saturday, & Sunday I didn't really do anything exercise-wise. Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday I went to the track. I went three miles on Monday, and two and a half miles on Tuesday and Wednesday, running half by alternating between running and walking laps. Stayed good on my food intake. Wait.....on Sunday we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. I did have a slice of bread, and then lasagna. However, I only ate half the lasagna and gave the other half to Steve for lunch the next day. Anyway, results were still minimum. I lost 0.7 pounds this week. This week with last week makes a whole pound lost in two weeks. Combine that with the two previous weeks (when I gained while I took a break, and then lost what I had gained), and I have lost a whopping 1.1 pounds in four weeks. Not very impressive, huh? Our entire biggest loser class had only a 6 pound loss combined tonight. So not too good for everyone. Anyway, we are heading out tomorrow for another camping weekend. I have a map of the campgrounds, and it shows a hiking trail. Not sure how long it is, but I definitely will check it out while there. Also, everyone is discussing renting peddal boats or canoes......so that sounds like exercise to me!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Just a quick update since last weigh-in. I ended up not exercising last Friday night, went to a birthday gathering instead. Saturday I was running errands and as I started to run out of time I had to choose between hitting the track or going to a concert at the fair. I actually choose the track, so ran a couple more errands and then stopped by the track only to find it closed 4 hours earlier on Saturdays. So I missed the track and the concert....bummer. Sunday was my 5k walk for breast cancer. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I went to the track and did a minimum of 2 miles alternating between walking and running the laps. Last night I weighed in......down a whole .3. I know I should be happy with it being a loss, but I just felt so good about staying on track I was hoping for a better result. Guess that's how it goes, though. Hopefully next week will be better.

So.....tonight was weigh-in. Okay, dang it! I get to put my 25 pounds lost icon back up! Woohoo! Not only did I lose the 4.2 I gained last week, but I lost an additional .1 for a total of 4.3 pounds lost this week. That puts me at 25.2 pounds lost since starting this process.

Last night I went to the indoor track by myself. I did my two lap warm up of walking, then ran 2 and realized I would not be able to run two at a time the whole time as my leg was bothering me (I'm still working with getting the inside of these shoes right....finally have one level of support for one foot and a different for the other.) So, instead I ran one, walked one, ran one, walked one. It still meant I ran half of the distance. When I was doing my last lap to make two miles, I decided to go another lap for the heck of it. Well, then I decided to see if I could run another. Then I had to do a lap to cool down, but then I felt like I wanted to run another. I actually didn't want to stop. (Was that ME that just said that??) I was thinking maybe I would add another mile, but then the announcement came that the gym was closing in 8 minutes, and I still had to go downstairs to turn in the clicker. Bummer. So I did add half a mile for a total of 2.5 miles......half walking, half running. One of these days I will be able to put all that running together and do a mile non-stop.

There was a last minute decision made today for me to meet up with Steve and some of his family for a late lunch. He is back up in Phoenix visiting, but I won't be able to get up there before his niece leaves tomorrow morning, so we decided to meet half way for lunch. I suggested Cracker Barrel as I knew what exit it was and pretty much half way. On the drive up I kept thinking of all the good food they have. So I had decided that since tonight was weigh-in, I would eat the veggies and put the rest in a to-go box and have it AFTER weigh-in. Well, it turns out they have a full page of low carb meals with the carb count. Amazing! So, I got a meal that only had a total of 4 carbs. Needless to say, there was nothing to bring home, and it felt good to leave there without that "I'm stuffed" feeling. And tonight's weigh-in made saying no to those delicious looking pieces of cornbread all worth it!

Friday is normally my night off from exercising, but since Steve will still be out of town, maybe I'll get an extra night at the track in tomorrow. Haven't heard yet about our hike Saturday, but Sunday is my 5k walk for breast cancer. So all in all, this has been / will be a good week for putting the body in motion.

David.....Thank you for your words of encouragement! We just have to keep stepping forward, and the rest takes care of itself, right?

Has it really been 10 days since I blogged last? I guess in truth, I have been avoiding this, but it's time to get honest. After my last blog, I had 4 days until the starting weigh-in of the next biggest loser contest. Well, without boring you with the details, I got myself involved in a project Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings that afforded me an excuse to not exercise. Actually, two of those nights, I could have if I had just planned better. But I didn't. I also was home alone those days as Steve was visiting family. I found myself with the thought that I would take the days "off" since my next weigh-in would be a starting point again, no harm or foul if I weighed more than my ending weight last round. I justified it by thinking I had been SO good for 12 weeks, I deserved a few days off. Well, I paid for it. After not exercising those days and eating basically anything I wanted (well....not anything I wanted, just didn't say no to things in front of me) I faced the weigh-in expecting to have gained a pound or two. Yeah...if only! I gained 4.2 pounds!! What??? Seriously??? Okay, you have to remember that through the first 12 weeks I always had a loss.....even if it was a small one. Giving myself permission for a small gain for the one week between contests was one thing, this was too much. I gained back almost 1/5th of what I had lost. OUCH!!! Guess that showed me. While it has no impact on this next round of the contest, it does mean having to lose those 4.2 pounds over again. Dang it! Guess that also means I have to take down my "25 pounds lost" icon.......sniff, sniff.

Okay, so get over it Lauri and make it right again. So, what have I done since? Well, that was last Thursday evening. Friday morning we left on a camping trip. Once there, we decided to go fishing, so everyone climbed into cars to drive down to the lake. NOT ME! I insisted on walking, and actually had a friend walk with me. Afterwards, I absent mindedly climbed back into the car when we were done, then realized as we drove across the parking lot, so made him stop to let me out so I could walk back up the hill. I behaved myself with food.....only one exception. As everyone was roasting marshmellows and making s'mores (sigh), I took one marshmallow and nibbled on it...no roasting, no chocolate, no graham crackers. Not great, I know, but at least I avoided the other ingredients. Next day a friend and I went on an exploration walk. So, I did get in some exercise and stayed pretty much on plan with food. Monday night I went out and did my two mile walk/run. Definitely could tell I've been away from the running too long. Last night I met a friend and we went to an indoor track. Running was much better. One of these days I will be able to run a mile without stopping, but that is still a long ways off, probably. But instead of walking two, running one like we did before, we walked two, ran two. (A lap is only 1/12th of a mile, so still a small feat.) It felt good and it was an improvement. So weigh-in is tomorrow evening. Not having a decent scale at home, I don't know where I stand. Any chance I could lose in a week what I gained in a week? It is extremely windy today, very high gusts, so I think I will go back to the indoor track tonight. I will update after my weigh-in tomorrow night. Cross your fingers!

Wow! I'm back from a wonderful time at Country Thunder!!!! The weather was fabulous this year! Could not have asked for better. In years past it has been much warmer in the daytime, in the 90's. That makes it more of a challenge to sit out in the hot sun for the earlier shows. This year it was in the 80's with breeze. In fact, one day the wind was WAY more than a breeze. Tents were flying, chairs were rolling, etc. But it made sitting out in the sun to watch the shows much more comfortable. (We will ignore the fact that the winds were so bad for awhile that the grit on our skin and dirt in our hair was unimaginable!) Anyway, the weather was great, the shows were great, all was good! This was my eighth year, seventh camping. Already looking forward to next year.........man it's a long way off!

I admit, while I was out there, I was not my best in the food department. Everyday I had something not on plan. But, it wasn't all day long. And I did lots of walking. We figured the walk from our tent to the show was about 3/4 mile one way. So, on Wed I walked 1.5 miles, on Thur I walked 4.5 miles, on Fri I walked 3 miles, and on Sat I walked 4.5 miles. That's just the back and forth, not all the incidental walking I did across the field for the venders and food and portapotties. So all in all, I am not feeling badly about my time this weekend.

Oh.....and the important thing. I stopped for weigh-in at the Biggest Loser on the way out of town on Wednesday. I was down another 2.8 pounds! Woohoo! After not getting to work out as much the previous week, I was concerned. That meant a total of 25.1 pounds for the contest. Vera told me I lost 12% of my body weight. Well, on Thursday I got a text from my friend that is also in the contest, and she said I won!!! When I signed up for this 12 weeks ago, I had no belief in the idea of winning. I just wanted some motivation, some accountablilty, and to see if I could get some friends to join in with me. I NEVER expected to win. But now the challenge starts all over. I have joined the next group and the first weigh-in for this one is this coming Thursday. There will be new people there, and there will be another person there like me, that has just decided to take care to lose pounds and will be able to outdo us all. I know how this works. The more recent the pounds are put on, the more easily they come off. Well, I think I have taken off my "easier" pounds at this point. I know I will have to work harder to keep accomplishing what I have done so far. Knowing that, I don't expect to win again, I just expect to stay motivated and making progress. For me, THAT will be winning!

Also, for those of you that stopped by to say hello from my brother's (David) blog, thank you. It is amazing how helpful it is to be able to share these struggles and successes with others that really understand.