A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step

Saturday is the new Friday :) Friday is such a hassle with language school and then getting lunch done and the kids started on their school that I am so not focused so it will be easier for me to post my updates Saturday, sooo with that being said....

My weekly water consumption is about the same -- around 30-35 liters! I am totally proud of this fact. I ALWAYS have a cold water bottle in my hand at any given time of the day and I now love it. I actually crave it. After I get back from my rides I sit in the recliner to unwind for a few minutes and drink down 1 liter in about 5 minutes. I can't remember exactly how long last summer I went without coke but I am pushing 28 days coke-free tomorrow, and I think it is a record! With the exception of a rare glass of milk with my dinner and my post workout smoothies, I haven't drank anything else. Just my water and me. Funny about 2 months ago at this time I couldn't gag down a liter a day- now I drink close to 5. This week I have done my bar method 3 days and boy am I feeling it!

I rode my bike 15 miles

* it was down this week because my chain was popping off giving me problems, but hubby fixed it and I took a glorious ride today with no problems!

I walked 17 miles

*this weeks goal is 20 miles

I am so glad to have a walking partner again!! Kristina said, "lets start walking" (YAY!) and so we did-- first it was a little hard on her, I think, but she made up her mind too and if she is half as determined as I am, we are going to reach 100 miles in no time! Maybe we can celebrate with a coke! Kidding!

My inches I am going to measure every 2 weeks instead of every week, so nothing to see there :)

I have fixed my eyes on a new thinner, healthy me and there is nothing stopping me now. All fall and winter long I dabbled around diets, and half hearted exercise routines only to get discouraged and give up to start again and stop again and start again. Not this time. I told Kristina for months, that I have to work myself up and get to a certain point and then I just take off from there without looking back. This week was that point and I am stoked about my meals plans for the coming weeks and the results to follow. I still am not going to get so caught up on what digital enemy on the floor says, but of course I am going to monitor it weekly. My goals during this whole journey have turned a little. I am not going to set weekly goals of inch/weight loss, per se, but rather the fitness and eating goals. I will take whatever I get for the week, in loss or gain, with a smile and be happy about it... if I have reached my goal of eating healthy and fulfilling my exercise goals. I am doing everything right, so I know in time it will reflect that. Oh yeah, before I get carried away I am down 4 pounds!!

I have a ton of new recipes I am going to be testing in the next few weeks and I am eager to share the 'keepers' with you!

Before I go I want to share a teeny blessing with you. It may be silly actually, but I LOVE the little things God does to show just me how how important the little things really are to Him. I paid for a new month of web application for my bodybugg and had to upload all old info and before I was done it asked me to update it (I had not used it in months!) which I did and half way through that, it froze. I tried calling customer service and it was Saturday in California so of course they were not open, so I do some troubleshooting searches. I find out if it is unresponsive hold the status button down for 15 seconds to reset the armband. I did and the thing died. it would not come on, the computer didn't recognize it and I thought for sure it was fried and to top it off I had to wait until after the weekend on California time to get a hold of someone. To make a long story short on Tuesday evening I sat down to call them and get this chick on the phone that goes through all the yada-yada-yada and it still is not working. She tells me I will send you a new USB plug and we will see if that helps. Then she tells me she has given me 2 free months. I thank her and tell her I appreciate 2 free months, but if the thing does not work , those 2 months are useless. She said to wait on the USB and call back. Frustrated I hung up the phone. As I thought about all the steps she walked me through to try to reset it, somehow I remembered that the computer did recognize that something was attached to it so I called back to insist it was not a USB problem and I got another someone on the phone who successfully reset it and got it working again! I was so happy to hear the little beeps and see the green light! LOL. So the blessing is my bodybugg works again AND I got to keep the 2 free months! It would seem to be an unimportant request in the eyes of others, that my bugg would work again-- but in the eyes of my Lord it was another little thing to show me He's still there. He still hears, and He still is just as concerned with the insignificant things. Then He gives me a 'cherry on top' with my freebie!! That's what God can do! Hows that for motivation!?

Step away from the krafne!

It's an inside joke really, but I will let you in on it :) I am a habitual dieter and last year sometime on one of my endeavors to drop some pounds, I was grocery shopping with Tori (another missionary wife in Croatia, who is on furlough and I miss very much) Anyway we walked past the bread area and I spotted a chocolate covered krafne - which is as close to a doughnut you will get in Croatia. No doubt she spotted the drool seeping out of the corner of my mouth and told me "Traci, step away from the krafne". Which I did. Yay for me! Well everytime I see the krafne it makes me think of that day and everytime I try to overcome the temptation to eat a whole box of little cream puffs I tell myself "step away from the krafne".

So here I go on another one of famous escapades for weight-loss. I started with kicking my coke habit. That's coca-a-cola people... come on! And I am 5 days in and surprisingly doing very well. I drink about 4 liters of water a day and have been going on 6 mile bike rides. All alone. I sure miss Tori, for more reasons than one, but she was my partner and biggest cheerleader. We would go on 14 mile *GASP* bike rides and 4-6 mile walks through fields, down weird streets and along the highway, getting fit and building a wonderful friendship. As I dropped weight and excitedly reported to my friend she always had encouraging words and would get just as excited for me as I was for myself. But now she is gone and I am my own cheerleader. So I thought I would dub Fridays as "Weigh-In Day" for all the world to see. No, I am not going to actually tell you my weight, but I will tell you if I lost or gained and how much. Maybe I can find some new cheerleaders to woo me on.

I think I have every exercise DVD ever published..lol, but my exercise of choice is 'The Bar Method.' I absolutely love this workout, combined with my cardio of riding and all my water and lots of fresh veggies and fruits -I am well on my way. Here we go again!