Went to the gym to meet Jen(PT).  She raised my weights and since she didn't have an 8:30 - she worked me for 45 minutes!  THEN - she and I went into the cardio theatre and I did the elliptical with her for 35 minutes!  One month ago - my knees wouldn't take 5 minutes!  Now - it was level 1 - BUT I DID THE ELLIPTICAL MACHINE!!!
Oh - now my heart rate isn't spiking - so she is pushing me harder....and I keep looking down at my Polar wrist monitor and say "heart....why aren't you beating! get me out of this!!!"  Nope - running nice and steady - so I don't get to quit!!! 

The other day Christi was discouraged and I said a series of things that encouraged her.  I hope I can recapture them (she told me to write them down and I didn't...). 

This journey is not just about losing weight, but about changing habits and life patterns.  Sometimes not losing, or (even gaining) is a victory.  Did you do better than you would have before you started?  That's a victory!!  {For instance, we were getting Steak n Shake milk shakes on a regular basis, late at night, or eating supper and then getting something from Wendy's.  We haven't done that for quite a while now (it's getting close to being sickening to think about).}  So even if we didn't lose any weight, or as much as we wanted or 'deserved' to, if we got through a hard week without falling back into bad habits, we won!!!  or if we fell, did we go all the way back?? (No, because we're still here.). 

A mechanical example...sometimes you can't pull the rope up anymore.  You have to take a break and tie off the rope, sit on it or something and just hold your position (or even give a little back so you can get to a knot to hold onto).[or get someone to help you hold it.  Hi Christi!!]

A financial example...we've known for several years that by eating out we were literally eating our budget to pieces.  We have had it as a goal for at least 2 years to severely reduce that amount, but even with knowledge of what we were doing, and a joint decision to do it, it has taken us 2 years to cut out half of our eating out.  But every time we don't go through the drive through, we end up with more money and more health to enjoy it with!!  The last 2 years have not been a failure, they have been a series of small victories with 'holding actions'.  As someone has said, if you fail, fail forward....  and you never really fail until you refuse to get up again.

You can't really know what drives you to eat until you try to stop.  What are the excuses you hear in your head?  What is a healthier way to deal with it?  Not necessarily the healthiest (whatever you think that is), but healthier than it would have been.  Go as far as you can and when you get there you will be able to see further.  Frozen meals aren't "the best", but they're better than a Wendy's Baconator Combo (of any size).  Going out to eat is NOT easier or faster than pulling a box out of the freezer, opening it, putting it in the microware and pushing 2 buttons and waiting 5 minutes  (wow that's an easy way to save 500 to 1000 calories!!)....

Hope these are helpful for someone.

Jim

Christi pointed out that I've been slacking off on the blog, so here I go.

The tickets to the ice hockey game were a blessing, but knocked me off the eating schedule and the workout schedule.  I made it to the gym this morning, 10 minute warmup on the Precor stepper thing (.9 miles), then weights.  I forgot my jump rope this morning, and then got absorbed in lifting weights..so I never finished the cardio (oops).  Today's weights included inclined bench, shrugs, side bends, straight bar curls, preacher bench curls, over the head triceps extensions, lunges with weights, bench dips with my feet on another bench, some squats on a Smith machine (bar on a set of rails, and some vertical rows from a pushup position.  I really like lifting weights.  That was a nice workout!!

(I'm not trying to start an argument or offend - this is part of my weight loss journey, and these are my thinkings)
Ok - our faith is very big in whatever we do.  And I am often meditating on something.  Yesterday, as I was working on going to the Curves gym - I was worrying about what they would think of me - not really succeeding.  When we were at the Hockey Game - I was worried about if I was dressed right, if I would say the right thing or not (boo the wrong team? well - that was easy!), and when we left early for getting home for my medicines, I was worried about the folks thinking we were missing the best part of the game, and worried that the guy that gave us the tickets would be mad because we only stayed for 2/3 of the game. 
Ok - the theme - 'what will other people think of me?" or more specifically - "will those people think I'm wrong?" or "Will the like me?".  In my meditation - a Bible verse came to mind - Proverbs 29:25 - The fear of man bringeth a snare.  I thought, that's not the fear of man - I don't hide my faith, I don't hold back....but in my heart I heard "if you choose to not do something for 'fear' of what others think - isn't that fear of  others?".  Oh WOW!!!  I have not gone to the gym because I feared what others thought!  I have not gone to movies because of fear of what others thought.  I've been letting 'fear of man' rule my life!
The full verse is this: "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe." 
When Israel was afraid of their enemies - they lost.  Whenever the trusted in the Lord - they were safe. 
When Joshua took over for Moses, the Lord said to him: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God [is] with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9.  Do I really believe that? 
The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah "Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Is 41:10.  Again, Do I really believe that?
In my heart - yes - but I put all sorts of parameters on it - that aren't in the Bible. 
I want to believe the verse I have as our motivation for this week: Is 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.
So - why not take the rest?  There is a promise: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7.  It will take all the grace I can get to walk in Power against these fears, to love myself more than the other people's opinions that I've worried about my whole life, and a sound mind - to recognize what is important.
I pray that everyone that reads this will claim their power, love and sound mind, and cast out, cast down, cast away any fear that would sabotage our success! Take care of the temple you were given!
In His hands and Under His wings,
~Christi

We got in late from the hockey game Tuesday night - and we chose to sleep in on Wednesday.  Jan 31 is the end of my Curves membership - and I wanted to go and get a weigh in/measurement/fat check up - as well as I knew that I could do the 30 minute circuit to get a work out in.  What the summary doesn't show is that I went up from 233 to 250 last year...because I wasn't consistent with anything!  but, here goes:
 

Area	1/31/07	1/30/08	Loss
Bust	49	48.75	-.25
Waist	45.5	42.5	-3
Abdomen	53.5	52	-1.5
Hips	52	51	-1
Thighs x2	54	52	-2
Arms x2	32	30	-2
Weight	233	229	-4
Body Fat %	47.3%	46.6%	-.7%

In addition to this good news - I'm not starting back where I was a year ago (though I don't know why their scale was 4# lighter than ours....) - I was able to work the circuit - and have the companionship that a Curves facility is known for. I'm thankful for the Weight Loss program that taught me not to starve myself thin. I'll miss these folks, but we can't afford the personal trainer fees, the gym fees and the curves fees right now - and I like working out with Jim!

I started this challenge with lots of physical issues to prevent me from working out - and I love seeing more of them disappear!
Last week I did the Biggest Loser Workout DVD vol. 1 - and I was able to move through the whole thing,  but I did do a lot of modifying, and just side stepping because of my heart rate.
TODAY I DID THE WHOLE Low Intensity WORKOUT!!  I was able to do the dvd modifications and keep my heart rate down to normal ranges...and I only had to side step through part of the squat routine for high heart rate.  AND my gym workout this morning hit my legs - and this workout does a lot of lunges and squats - but I  was able to do it all - AND YES - IT BURNED!!!  with the warm up, and stretches - I just did 30 more minutes of exercise today!  I made up for the blood sugar episode this morning!  I am so happy with myself!

I was bummed with only 2# loss - but Jim had some really neat things to say. 
This morning, I met with Jenifer - and I need to start calling her Jillian!  She whipped my patooty!  She had me pull myself along the floor on this little rolling thing - looked like a plant stand!  My hammies were burning - but if my heart rate doesn't go up, she won't let me stop!(I wear a Polar heartrate monitor watch that she keeps an eye on).  Then, we did arm workouts and then, to get back to the other end, I had to do the rolling plant stand thing again - AND MY WATER WAS ON THE OTHER END!!!  She pushed me the last three feet!
I got a comment from another trainer as I was doing flies holding my patooty parts in the air balanced on those huge balls - "Wow, someone actually keeps their hips up while they do that!".  Ok, that felt good!
The weights we use with my arms keep going up - and since just 12/14/07 I was released from my job because of an arm injury, and I couldn't hold a mug without water...this is nothing short of miraculous! Praise God!!!    Jennifer is constantly amazed at how fast I am recovering from the injury and getting stronger.  The heart rate is getting better and better!
The downside is that we had kid drama just as I left for the gym, and I didn't get my sugar recovery stuff in my bag - and since I ate a different breakfast...my blood sugar crashed - and I couldn't do cardio there.  I didn't have anything to bring it back up with - so I had to go home.  It took an hour to get it settled back down - BUT - WE WILL HAVE THE RIGHT FOOD FOR ME FROM NOW ON!!!
I am hoping to do the Biggest Loser Workout, Vol 1 this afternoon for my cardio...and I want to lose four pounds this week.  That will put me into the 220's...and I will have lost over 10% of my body weight.  So, I really want to stay focused this week. I'll let you know if I got the cardio done! And - we are doing the challenge this week - 25 squats, 25 jumping jacks, 25 leg lunges, 25 sit ups and jog for 30 sec.  We may do it several times and turn in our best combined score....who knows!

Christi meets Jen at 8, so I went to the gym by myself.  After doing some reading, I want to do my weightlifting before I do the cardio to see if that enhances weight loss.  Since I was running late, I did 10 minutes on a cross trainer for .9 miles, and 180 calories as a warm up (it takes 5-10 minutes for me to get 'warm' and sweaty).  Then to the weights, abs and back machines, 2 different lat exercises with different grips (3 sets each), 3 biceps and chest exercises with a cable based machine, some stretching, shoulder raises and jump rope.  I did 2 sets of 100 skips double footed, and 2 sets single footed with 50 skips total (25 per foot).  So I blended my cardio into my work out.  

Weighed in when I got home at 232#!!  Neat.  Have not seen that number on my scale in a long time.  Good luck to everyone else who is weighing in today.

JIM - Starting weight - 235. 
Current weight - 232. Loss : -3, 1.27%
CHRISTI - St weight - 235.
Current weight -  233. Loss: -2, .85%
TEAM JnC - start -    470.
Current weight - 465. Loss: -5, 1.07%

I'm not as creative as Christi on the titles.  Anyway, we both made it to the gym this morning.  Christi did her slow walk, which oddly, was a real struggle for her.  I'm proud of her for pushing through the fear and pain from her leg!  I did 30 minutes on the treadmill (4.6 MPH, 2.3 Mi, 382 cal), then went off to do weights.  3 sets on an ab machine, 3 sets of seated pullovers, 3 sets of reclined pullovers with a dumbbell, and then a standing arm row while lifting one leg (from the Men's Health Training Guide)..3 sets which proved harder than I thought.  Then off to meet Christi, home and off to work...Since I worked from home this morning, I added a couple sets of pushups too.  I'm proud of Christi for working out at home today as well.  Always hard to work out when you don't feel quite right for one reason or another.

After the drama of this weekend, I just don't feel like myself - and it's amazing how drama with our kids can bring back yucky memories from the past.  I did go to the gym with Jim this morning - and tried out a method recommended by Michael Thurmon of the 6 week body makeover fame - and he does the training on the Extreme Makeover shows.  Anyway - I walked for an hour in my fat burning zone (read, VERY slowly).  I hope that triggered some fat loss this week.  I did eat two bags of 100 cal oreos - then jumped on the rebounder for almost an hour to burn them off...sort of takes away the urge to binge!  I was going to get something really yummy and calorie dense - then I saw a pre-portioned container of sunflower seeds Jim had prepared a few days ago - and I ate that instead.  I guess I'm over using food to blow away the blues - but I need to find something else.  Anyway -  tomorrow will be another day - and oh yeah - our weigh in - yippee yea!  I hope it's at least 2 pounds.

This is so much fun - I hope everyone will come join and see what we're talking about! This week is Snacks! 

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Favorite Recipes (or Menus) to Lose

Hosted by: Christi Wildman Date and time: Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 1:45 PM View this event on Windows Live

Check out my Baby Workout - or - Baby Training  - or - My favorite Persona Trainer!
Just uploaded in my photo album - carrying the 25 pound Grandson is a workout!
And - Jim has challenged me to carry a 15 pound weight around, I have agreed to carry it up the steps and down the steps every time i walk them - so if you come to our house, you will see a weight, either at the top of the steps or at the bottom of the steps.  WOW - 15 pounds!  WHEW!  I don't know what he'll do when I've lost 20 - 40- 100?

Sunday is worship and grandbaby day.  We had a time of prayer and worship together, then went to pick up Brayden.  On the way back we drove through the Buck Creek State Park where Christi spent a lot of time as a young person.  Exercise today will be playing with the baby and carrying him around.  Here are the cell phone pictures from Friday at the gym.

As Christi noted, we didn't make it to the gym today.  I did a lot of up and down the stairs though . Yesterday we used my camera phone to take pictures of ourselves on the tread mill.  Here I am ...  and here's Christi stretching.  I have no idea where these pictures will land in the blog...

Yesterday I drove 50 miles to take my daughter in law to the ER - and Jim was sooooo sweet! While I was getting ready to take off, he packed a cooler full of great food for me to take along with!  The only down side was when my dil's mom wanted to take us out to lunch - me included as a thank you for covering for her to take care of her daughter while she was out of town (I was only 50 miles away - she was 200 miles away - but Sarah wouldn't let me take her to the ER until her mom got there anyway!).  So - they chose a mexican restaurant - and I tried to get the best grilled thing I could...Oh well - anyway, Sarah's fine - and we had a nice time, the three of us.

Today Jim and I just vegged out - except I had to go meet our daughter (#4, 21 years old) for lunch! But this time, I got to choose the place, and I chose Panera - they have GREAT nutrition info on their website!  So, I went prepared!  And I had a great three hour lunch with our daughter!

But - well, Jim did a lot of household projects, but we didn't go to the gym.  We just spent today getting reconnected - since I've been so pulled by our  children (that live on their own but still want a mom!). 

I'm watching my blood sugar - and last night I ate a totally protein supper (because of the carbs for lunch) - and my sugar was at 94 before I went to bed - that's probably a bit low 2 hours after a meal.  But this morning, it was at 103 - VERY good for my fasting blood sugar in the am.  Since blood sugar is either burned as energy or turned to fat...maybe it was a good thing I went to bed with a lower number, and didn't have sugar sitting in my veins waiting to become permanent fixtures on my body!  I'm still not sure about this blood sugar, insulin resistance, and diet and exercise combo, but I think things are looking better all the time.  I get frustrated that when I talk to a diabetic teacher about what I need to do they keep telling me "you're numbers are great" - and after years of sitting on my fat duff because of that info, I'm just sitting on 'pre diabetic'.  I don't want to be there at all - so WHAT DO I DO TO CHANGE THIS! What I'd been doing(which was nothing) didn't change the pre-d stuff - and they wanted to put me on meds - so, instead, let's figure out what else I could do - before we pull out the drug guns!  Anyway - I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
~Christi

Christi went to the gym with me today.  I walked on the treadmill beside her for 30 minutes (362 calories, 2.4 miles, avg speed 4.3 mph).  That included 6 minutes of running at 6.6 mph.  Goal is run the whole 30 minutes.  

I suppose others have done the same, but I really like the Men's Health magazine, except everythign is "so you can do better in bed".  Christi spotted an  Men's Health exercise booklet at Krogers last night (see the side bar).  Excellent.  Very simple exercises with clean explanations of what and why you are doing it.  Most sections feature a professional athelete for comparison (LeBron James, 6'8" NBA player can do 20 pullups at a time).

On the weights I did torso rotations, side planks (from the book), bench press, 2 sets of shoulder shrugs with 90# dumbbells, side bends with dumbbells, and some should rotation exercises (from the book).  I think I'm forgetting something.... oh well.

Did a great workout on the treadmill - was able to keep my heart rate down below the maxed out point - and still got 2.61 miles in!  My legs hurt....but, that was the point - get my heart strong enough that I could work out the other parts!
Now, I'm off to take my daughter in law to the hospital, she's been in a head on accident with no seat belt. No idea what my eating will be like...but family does what family needs to do.  Any praying people out there - please pray for Sarah! Thanks
~Christi

Made it to the gym today!  I did a somewhat slow 30 minutes on the eliptical machine (460 calories), then a nice solid 40 minutes of weights.  2 ab workouts (Christi reminded me I need to find a lower ab workout too), seated chest presses, inclined chest presses, toe raises, shoulder shrugs, lunges with weights, and curls took care of it today.  I felt pretty good through it all.  Plus, when I got home I weighed 233#!!  I don't think I've been below 235 for a decade, so that was really neat.  My next "weight that I'm never going to weigh more than" target is 230#, which I hope to hit by the end of January.  I think that will take me back to about age 35 or so....

We got good news on the work front with favorable review as the Lord continues to bless us in that area.  We went out to Applebee's as a celebration.