House and budget

My house addition is *almost* finished. I'm in the process of final, touch-up painting, and moving in furniture. Once done, it's time to get back on the ole' budget :-)

It's been awhile...

I should really get back to blogging on a more regular basis. I think that I accomplsh more when I do. Currently I am trying to drop below 145. This morning when I woke up, I was at my lowest weight that I've been at in a long time---146. I suspect it is dehydration from sweating so much yesterday at the gym and while working on my yard. I didn't stay for weights at the gym, no did I lift at my house. Instead, I did the "poor girl" weight training, and carried large landscaping rocks to their final destination in my yard. I am wondering how much I can dead lift? some of those rocks were quite large. There were only 3 that I was unable to move. I figured that my back would hurt this morning, but it didn't. My biceps area little sore.
Also along these lines, I weed-eated my yard. Last summer, I intentionally bought the biggest heaviest one in an effort to help reduce the fat on my arms...not working so far.
At the gym, I am down to 40 pounds assist on the wide grip gravitron. I can only do 2 pull-ups @ 40 pounds. I think I need to lose more weight before I will be able to do more.
Finances: well, let's just say that I should improve in this area. Here is my excuse: home addition. Seems like everytime one does home improvements, it always costs more than expected. I will have my first lawyer paid off this month and am on track to have my 2 small student loans paid off at the end of the summer. I will then take those payments and pay on my big student loan.
House-wise, I'm building my new flower beds around the addition.

Catching up

It's been awhile since I've blogged and need to catch up. I'm still trying to drop below 145 pounds and have been here for quite some time. I had a visit with the personal trainer who re-did my workout routine. I'm now doing some work with the barbells, which is nice since I bought myself a weight set to reward myself for dropping below my prepregnancy weight. I have yet to use those, though, as they aren't set up yet---waiting on the floors/trim in the upstairs to be done.
Other milestones--I have ran 1/3 mile on the treadmill and am now down to 50 pounds assist on the wide grip on the Gravitron.
House-wise, I continue to clean out drawers, nooks, crannies, etc. The addition is coming along nicely. The contractor has begun laying the flooring...
Finances? ha ha not much progress here....between decorating the addition and lawyers bills.....I'll try harder :-)

The longest 3 minutes....

So, I've done the math, and if I run (jog?) at a pace of 5.3 mph for 3 minutes, I've done a quarter-mile. And that's what I did today, and I do believe it was the longest 3 minutes ever.
Doing the math....if I continue to jog at this pace, I would need to jog for 12 minutes to run a mile. I've NEVER been able to run AT ALL, even when I was skinny. This seems like a very daunting task.
Furthermore, the 5K that I'd like to run is in October, is roughly 6 months away. Continuing at that rate of speed, I'd need to run for 36 minutes to run a 5K.
What does this mean? It means that I've got a lot of work to do. For the month of May, I'll need to increase from 3 minutes to 6 minutes, and for each month thereafter, will need to increase by another six minutes each month (or 1.5 minute increase each week) OUCH!
I think I can...I think I can...

Tuesday/Wednesday bite it/write it

tuesday
breakfast: yogurt with fiber one
midmorning snack: grill chicken wrap from sonic
lunch: cup of potato soup, salad
Dinner: 2 hot dogs with buns (ouch), baked beans, macarroni and cheese
2 chocolate chip cookies

Wednesday:
breakfast: yogurt with fiber one
lunch: chinese take-up (didn't eat the whole thing) shrimp with mixed veggies, fried rice, egg roll, 2 steamed dumplings
dinner: 4 steamed dumplings, small steak

You bite it, you write it!

Back to some old strategy. I'm at a standstill on weight loss, so going to try the "you bite it, you write it" strategy again.
Breakfast:
Yogurt with FiberOne cereal and frozen berries
Lunch:
green salad with a slice of rotisserie chicken, walnuts, and craisins
Dinner:
Baked tilapia, edamame, and leftover fried rice from the Chinese takeout

contemplating eating a brownie tonight :-)

Evaluation with the physical trainer

Thursday night I met with the physical trainer that works at the fitness center. This is meeting #3. A meeting consists of reevaluation of goals, measurements/weights, and reworking the work-out routine in order to reach the goal.
A review of progress since September:
Starting weight: 164 pounds
Current weight: 148 pounds

Measurements:
Chest: 3 inches lost
Upper Arm: 3/4 inches lost
Waist: 2 1/2 inches lost
Upper hips: 1 inch lost
Thigh: 2 inches lost
Calf: 1/2 inch gained (OUCH!)

Body Composition analysis (aka fat rolls) OK not sure what unit this is (millimeter?)

Tricep: down 7 units
Suprailium : down 8 units
Thigh: down 3 units

Let me say this again: DANG THIS HAS BEEN SLOW PROGRESS. But, progress is progress. Hey, I could be gaining weight!

I have graduated to barbells.