Daily Victories and Challenges

I am starting to find that each day brings a new victory or challenge into my life.  Many of my daily victories lately have been from someone telling me they can see that I've lost weight or feeling more comfortable in my clothes!  I feel like the hard work of changing my eating habits and putting in the exercise are really starting to pay off!  I'm hoping to continue seeing my hard work show in the reactions of other people and in the way I feel about myself!

I do find it challenging that some days I struggle to stick to my calorie intake.  I sometimes end up over-indulging or not making the best choices when I want to go out to eat with my friends.  I don't want to hold back on life just because I feel like I might not make the perfect choice, so I call these times my "cheat day" or "cheat meal."  Sometimes I feel guilty when I allow myself to over-indulge, but I know that I will do better the next day!

This week, we threw a baby shower for Leslie (a girl I work with).  

There was lots of yummy food brought in to share with everyone, and it all looked amazing!  

I decided not to count each calorie because I wanted to try everything and it would have been difficult to calculate how much of each thing I had.  Instead, I just had a little bit of about everything and stopped eating when I felt full!  I counted this as a cheat day and didn't even try to track my caloric intake, but I did my best to make sure I didn't over-indulge too much!

Last night, I went out to dinner and felt very good when I left!  I ordered my dinner wisely (grilled salmon, white cheddar mashed potatoes, and fresh steamed brocolli) using my calorie tracker, but then found myself trying some of the appetizer dish (a yummy shrimp fondue dip) and a bit of the most delicious mac & cheese! So instead of just chalking that all up to cheat meal, I decided to let my body tell me when to stop!  I ended up only eating the brocolli and about a third of my salmon, still staying in my calorie allowance!  I was so proud of how well I let my body tell me to do the smart thing!

I really like the changes I'm starting to see, both physically and in the way I'm dealing with food!  I plan to keep going to where I want to be, and I hope I can stick with it!!!

~Emily

What a Week!!!

There has been a lot going on this week!  Last Friday, after Rilee spent the night my sis and I went to get our hair cut!  I hadn't had my hair cut in almost a year, so it was definitely time!!!  Here is a pic of how much Caitlin go cut off (I don't have a pic of her hair afterward)!  And a pic of my finished product!!!

On Saturday, I traveled to Rock Hill with my friend Mallory and her Winterguard to see them in competition! The did a great job and ended up winning first place in their class!!!

(Not sure why this is so blurry)

And the BEST part of the past week...

Rosey and I went down to the Riverwalk on Friday to lay out and enjoy the amazing weather!!!  It was about 80 degrees (in February!!!) and not a cloud in the sky!!!  I started working on the tan while Rosey played with her frisbee and enjoyed roaming! 

The sun and warmth have seemed to take a break today, so Rosey and I are enjoying laying around the house and catching up on some TV and maybe a movie or two!

Hoping for another great week ahead!

~Emily

PS...I have now lost 6 pounds as of today!!!

Adventures in Babysitting

Rilee came to spend the night with me last night!  And we had a blast watching Disney movies, reading books, and playing Barbies!  She came with me to Jazzercise class this morning and was very well behaved!  We also ventured to  Publix, Walmart, and to get my hair cut!  I love getting to spend one-on-one time with her!  I think Rosey enjoys her visits as well!

On another note...
I've lost another pound this week!!!!

I've been dealing with a cough and "the crud" for most of the week.  I don't feel bad, but this cough is killing my throat and makes me sound like a boy!

I'm looking forward to heading to a Winterguard competition this weekend!  Since my kids can't compete this year, I'm excited to join Mallory and her guard in their competition season!  It will be fun to see what everyone is doing this year!

Not much else going on here...will post pics of the new hairdo soon!

~Emily

Making Progress

Since I've started counting and keeping track of my calorie intake for almost 3 weeks now, I've lost 3 pounds!  It's not a whole lot, but I'm not looking to cut weight extremely fast or anything.  I want this to be a gradual thing and somewhat of a lifestyle change instead!

Last weekend, I didn't do so well at sticking to my plan :(  I went out to dinner with some friends on Friday night to a Mexican restaurant and I just can't resist the chips and queso dip.  I ate WAY too many chips and could definitely feel it as I made my way home.  I know next time to take it a little easy on those!  On Saturday night, I went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse (one of my absolute favorites)!  I stuck to the smaller portion of steak and had a baked potato and salad.  Not the best of choices, but I just wanted to indulge a little!  It was delicious and I enjoyed every second of it!

Most of my meals throughout the week have been pretty good choices, with at least one meal being a salad!  And I make sure they are very colorful!

On Wednesday of this week, my brother came to school with me to job shadow!  We had a pretty light day with two classes missing our group time because of school pictures, but I think he enjoyed seeing what his big sis does every day!  After work, we came back to my house for a little while and Rosey enjoyed getting to cuddle some with Colin!

Tomorrow are a couple Teacher Job Fairs, which I'm hoping go well and offer some opportunities for me in the upcoming school year!

~Emily

Rilee

So just wanted to take the time to write a little bit about my favorite almost 4 year old...my Goddaughter, Rilee!

I was so excited when she was born and her parents asked me to take the role as her Godmother.  I take that as a huge compliment and hold her very near and dear to my heart!  

I make sure I play a big role in Rilee's life to make sure she knows I love her and to teach her and help her grow into a smart, caring, and sweet young lady!  Some of our favorite things to do together are read books, play Barbies, color, play doctor, dress up and just snuggle up together!

I've also had a big hand in making sure she grows up to cheer for the Gamecocks!  For almost every birthday and Christmas since she was born, I've made sure to get her something garnet and black!  

I am amazed at how smart Rilee is!  

She communicates very well and is already able to write her name and most of her letters!

She wrote this during church last Sunday all by herself!


I absolutely love this kid and love watching her grow each and every day!

~Emily

Healthy Eating

Well it's been almost a week of close monitoring of what I'm eating.  I've been doing pretty well at keeping track of the calories I'm eating using My Fitness Pal!  And I'm doing my best to keep what I eat within my daily calorie allowance!  For the past couple days I've also been making it my goal to drink 8 cups of water a day, which is what is suggested by many nutritionists and doctors.  I've noticed this is making me have to go the bathroom A LOT!  I used to not visit the bathroom but a few times a day, but now I feel like I'm running in that direction every hour or so!  I'm hoping all this will help me look better and feel better about myself!

I've done really well at attending Jazzercise class every week, and I find myself really looking forward to going and getting in a good workout!  I'm also starting to get the hang of the routines and feel like I don't look so silly and clumsy doing the moves anymore!

After class last Saturday, I made a trip to Publix to get some good produce and healthier food.  I used to do almost all of my grocery shopping at Wal-Mart, but their produce selection doesn't seem to match up and the prices at Publix for their healthier foods are pretty good.  There aren't many choices of grocery stores really close to my house, so I'm planning to make a weekly trip to Publix after Jazzercise class, which is near a Publix store!

I have been doing a little experimenting with adding more fruits and vegetable into my diet.  I've started drinking 100% Grapefruit juice and using more fresh produce when I cook.  Here is a picture of a yummy lunch I tried out on Monday:

It's 1 cup of whole wheat rotini, a 1/2 cup each of zucchini and squash, 1/2 cup marinara/lean ground beef sauce, and 8 oz of Grapefruit juice!  It was so easy make and extremely delicious!

Here's hoping I can keep up my good work and stick to eating better!

~Emily

Getting a Feel for It

So after my last post, I found My Fitness Pal, an online food and exercise tracker.  I've been using it to track everything I eat since Monday.  I did pretty well Monday and Tuesday keeping within my allotted daily caloric intake, but I didn't do so well yesterday.  I know there are going to be days that I "fall of the wagon," but I can't let those days get me down and I'm trying harder today!  I know it's going to take some time to get myself used to not just eating anything I want.  I'm getting a feel for it though!

I don't have anything going on this afternoon until Jazzercise class, so to keep myself from digging into everything in my house, I have been finding some activities to keep myself occupied.  I clipped the dog's toenails and cleaned out her ears.  We also had a bit of play-time outside!  I've done some laundry and even vacuumed the house.  I feel good about the hard work I'm putting in to keep my mind off food!

Yesterday, I had my yearly doctor's appointment (the girly one).  Everything seemed to check out okay, but my blood pressure was a bit high.  I always get nervous when I go to the doctor, mostly because I only go once a year to this particular doctor.  This elevates my blood pressure, but I'm not sure it should be this high at my age, so I've been looking into other ways to lower it beside getting put on medication.  I'm hoping the exercise and working to eat better will help with this!

It has been great to be back at work with the students this week!  I feel like my students and I are really getting involved in what we're reading!  And the students seem to be really excelling!

We have been struggling with one teacher, whose students we work with.  She doesn't seem to see us as professionals and talks down to us, that is when we actually do communicate at all.  I know every person has their own way of doing things and as they say "march to the beat of their own drum," but the lack of collaboration and communication with us and other teachers is very frustrating.  We have tried many ways of approaching her and dealing with her with no change.  I hope things will get better for our sake as well as the sake of the students!

Hoping for a great weekend to come and more hard work ahead!

~Emily