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!?

update

I totally forgot yesterday was Friday and time to weigh until well into the afternoon! I hate when that happens.

Anyway since last Friday I rode my bike for 24 miles.




I walked 12 miles





and I consumed approx. 30 liters of water and still no

coke!

I did not have any cookies or candy bars and trying to curb my mindless munching, unless it is on carrot sticks and so what I found on the scale was a huge disappointment.

I was up 3 pounds! Yes, that very same 3 pounds I lost last week are back so that puts me back at ZERO!!!




I was so frustrated and MAD! But I am over it now :) I figure its because all the junk from the conference caught up with me or I am building some muscle somewhere. I have come to a healthy conclusion that I am not going to obsess with what the scale says. I took all my measurements this morning and thats going to be a contributing factor of my success. I realized... no, re-realized, thats its not all about the numbers! If my clothes feel looser then something is happening whether or not my weight reflects it, because I know my clothes are not growing!






So there you have it. I set some short term goals rather than long term because they are easier to reach and gives me something doable to strive for. I am enlisting the help of my bodybugg. This thing is so cool- I ordered it last year for my Mother's Day gift. (it was all I wanted at the time!) and it helped me lose 32 pounds in about 6-8 weeks... I can't remember exactly. It was like a challenge to myself to keep my calories in - in check and try to beat my calories out and it was exciting to see the results at the end of the day.

In other news- I re-arranged my living room/dining room/great room. Not real sure what to call it. I get bored easily and looking at the furniture the same way over a period of time does something awful to me. I love it now and it was a subtle change that I needed. (will try to post before and after soon). Spring is officially here in Croatia and I am LOVING it. The weather is gorgeous and I even had to send Matthew up to the attic to pull down some fans!

Our Bible conference at the churches here in Croatia concluded. We had 2 saved Sunday morning. Slow, but sure, the Lord is working...it's all His time anyway!

We have a new Pastor at our home church in Texas and we are excited for the things happening there! It was his first full week at the church this past week and they have had 5 saved and 4 baptized. To God be the Glory!

Ok, so, for real--5 pounds this week. It's gonna happen!!

dun, dun, dun...

I would like to say I am still coke-free 12 days later :) Despite that awesome fact and the 12 miles I rode this week, and the 20+ liters of water I drank this week, which cause my eyeballs to float (and my bladder to remind me every 5 minutes it seems!), I was still totally dreading stepping on the scale. My eating has not been that great this week. We have a Bible conference going on and alot of sweet cake-y stuff to fellowship with during our break and afterward, which holds us over until dinner at 830-900 pm every night, so I just knew there was going to be a few pounds more displayed on my glass accuser this morning. Not so! I am happy (and slightly shocked)to report I have lost 3 pounds!

This week is going to much better. The hardest thing about all of it is having to go at it alone. Either I make everyone 'enjoy' it with me, or I have to make 2 separate meals everyday. BOO! When my kids hear I am on (another!) diet they cringe. They whine and carry on, geez you would think I was making them eat leaves or something.

Diet and exercise is not all about losing weight, it is about eating better and being healthy and in shape. Almost everyone could stand to improve in that, right?!

There is this fruit fast and detox I am looking so forward to doing. I am so glad it is Spring, because unlike most, I can not run to Wal-mart and pick from the wide array of fruits and veggies that have been imported from every corner of the world on a any given day of the week. Nooo, I actually have to wait until they are in season in my part of the world to find them on my grocer's shelves! The trees are beginning to bloom and the grass is so green and I know that means berries, cantaloupe and watermelon are on the way and I am excited about that. Really excited!

Give me an F

Give me an I

Give me a V

Give me an E

...whats that spell!??!

I have a goal of 5 pounds this week and I am confident I can do it! Let's go Team Traci!!! Woooo-hoo!!! Hey, give me a break, I am my only cheerleader! :) :) :)

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!

Obsessed much?

Why, yes I am! With what- you wanna know? Pretty fruits and vegetables!! I can easily go broke by visiting the grocery store or a farmers market. While shopping the other day I came across iceberg lettuce. Not just any iceberg but beautiful, full, brillant green heads of lettuce. So I bought 5 of them! HA! What am I gonna do with all that lettuce? Eat it, of course. Salads everyday is healthy, right? Green peppers, strawberries, pineapples, and tomatoes are also a weakness when I find them looking gorgeous!

I didn't always used to be this way but since I have been living in Croatia, I have come to know that you can not always find these things and when they appear sometimes they look someone played ping-pong with them before putting them on display. So I have developed a rather unhealthy obsession with the produce section and a growing frustration with my ultimate European fridge which happens to be about half the size of standard American refrigerators.

Anyway we are eating better because of it so it can't be all that bad :-) There is absolutely no point to this post, I know. I am just a dork like that.