Day Three, and still going!!

      Finished day 3 today! It sucked again but I finished! I guess you know that its a good workout if you want to  collapse into the fetal position because all your muscles are burning. I will say that my right knee has started to hurt, but I think it may be because I balance better with my right leg, so I put more on it. My little sis joined us today and tried to do the whole thing. She had to stop on the last circuit because she said she was going to throw up. I felt the same way when I did it the first time.

      I also got Wii Fit Plus today! I really really like it. It has great stuff for balance, yoga, strength training, and a few aerobic exercises. Its not all that intense, but I really enjoy the yoga. It makes you stretch all your muscles. It also tracks your weight, BMI, and you can even enter your waist measurement in. I measured at 46" today. Its definitely not a replacement for actual exercise, but its fun. I think I weighed 197.7 on it today.



Not much painting or Hindi learning lately. I need to do some of that tomorrow. I am going to Mom's office, so I should be able to get something done.

Day two accomplished!

      So Mom and I finished day two of the BL:Last Chance Workout. I must say that I like these even days better than the odd days. The first day is the warm-up, last chance workout, and cool-down. The next day is warm-up, upper body, lower body, cool-down. The even days are easier than the odd days, but not by much, and they still kick my butt! I had been so sleepy before we started. I had even fallen asleep before Mom woke me up to start, and now I feel energized and not sleepy. I have never had a work-out DVD or VHS that has made me sweat as much as this one has!

Sorry!! I've been slacking :-/

      OK, so its been a week since my last post. I suck. Today's weigh-in sucked too. I weighed in this morning at 199.8lbs. Soooo frustrating, but I can really only blame myself. I slacked off a little last week. Especially because Mom and I went down to NC. We camped out one night and then stayed at a hotel the next. Plus, I went and saw old friends and had beer. BUT, I am not trying to make excuses. I will just have to try all the harder this week. Mom and I started our new DVD, The Biggest Loser: Last Chance Workout. It is INSANE. I was dying! Though, I will say that it is an incredible workout! My heart rate was up the whole time and I sweat like crazy. There is an option to do a 6-week program. Week 1-2 is the same. Workouts from Monday-Saturday. The front of the case claims that you can lose up to 32lbs in 6 weeks, I highly doubt I will, but I am going to give it my all. I'm not going to let myself make excuses this week. If I work, I can do it before or after work. I think this is how I need to go about his whole thing. One week at a time. So here we go... Biggest Loser week 1... NO MORE EXCUSES!

Weigh-in: Gain :(

      BUT, I only gained .2lbs. So I'm at 199.  I'm switching up what I am doing though. Today I started counting calories. I'm aiming for 1600/day this week, and I'll see how that works for me. I bought a set of weights today. They can get up to 40lbs. I also got a DVD: Biggest Loser: Last Chance Workout. So I'm going to try those out and see how I do.

      Tomorrow, Mom and I are getting up and going to NC to pick up some of my and Jaan's stuff that we left there. My ex is getting ready to move, so if I don't get that stuff now, I'll never see it again. Instead of shelling out a bunch of mulah for a motel room, we decided to stay at a campground and just sleep in a tent. I don't mind, I like camping. Plus, there are trails that we can hike on to get some exercise in while we're away. Looking forward to seeing some friends, not the ride though lol.

Hmmm..

      Well it doesn't seem like I will reach my goal for Monday. Either I've hit a bit of a plateau, or I'm retaining water in my sore muscles. I'm hoping its the latter. Mom and I went and walked yesterday and it was awful!! My legs were soooo sore, and this time we took a trail that made it even longer! We did 2.97 miles. We didn't end up walking today, but I figure that will probably be good to let our muscles recuperate. We also had dinner at Olive Garden this evening. When our waitress brought the bread sticks to the table, we told here to just take them back because we weren't going to eat them, so that was a great choice. I had one bowl of the Zuppa Toscana, which is the same thing I always have haha. I also had about 3 plates of their awesome salad too. So I am sure that the soup had a ton of sodium, but I will just continue to drink my water and hope I don't retain too much. I'm worried I will lose the next weigh in because of the scale not wanting to budge. But hey, who knows, I could be pleasantly surprised. No real plans for tomorrow, but I will make it a point to go and walk the trails tomorrow.

      I've been looking over all of my Hindi books. I've got 3 now and I'm starting to recognize just a few words. The biggest problem I have and I think I will continue to have, is pronunciation. It's tough. But, I suppose practice makes perfect, and I have plenty of time to practice.

      Mom and I are also going to be sewing our own dresses. We'll probably work on them tomorrow. We went and picked out some fabric and patterns after dinner. I have never made a dress before, and I've made only one thing (kinda successfully) out of a pattern. I really like the fabric, and If I can't figure a dress out, I'll try a skirt or shirt.

Well I am practically falling asleep on my keyboard.. gonna go catch some Zs..

Holy CRAP my legs are sore!!!

      Wow, I didn't think jogging would make my legs so freaking sore! What am I doing about it? Going for another walk/jog this afternoon! I'm not slowing down yet! No movement on the scale yet this week, but I'm not discouraged. I am just now getting back to our walks and adding jogging in with it, after a week of doing nothing. So hopefully by Monday, I will see a nice loss. OK, need to get some stuff done..

Its 2:05AM... I should be sleeping...

      But I am not tired yet. Well we FINALLY got back to the park to walk. I'm happy to report that my ankle was healed enough so that I could run!!! We did intervals of jogging/running and walking. I'm really excited about it and I feel like I got a good workout. Since I was up, I watched 2 episodes of The Biggest Loser, Season 9 on Hulu. I realize that their weight loss is very unrealistic, but I still feel inspired watching it. Although, I have the best inspiration already, every little push helps. Now that we're back to walking at the park, I'm hoping for better results on the scales too. We also decided to start our own little biggest loser's club. So far, it consists of me, Mom, my cousin K, and friend N. Each week we will all put $5 in a pot. Whoever loses the biggest % of weight loss at the end of the week wins the money. That is potentially $20 per week! I decided that If I did win at all, I am going to put that money aside and save it for clothes from the Festival of India. I'm really looking forward to getting some kurtis and a sari. If I can't afford the sari, then at least a few nice kurtis. Hopefully by the time that comes around, I will be 23ish lbs lighter!

      Another thing I have to look forward to by the end of this week, is that a friend is sending me another Hindi book that is accompanied by two audio CDs, and the new Alice in Wonderland movie. I'm mostly excited about the book more than anything really lol. I really want to dive in deeper to Hindi. I'm not getting very far right now.


OK, better at least try to get to bed...

Today is a day to paint...

      I've said before how I have been painting again, although I havn't gone into much detail about it. I've always loved art. Drawing, painting, sketching, coloring, photography, ceramics, etc. I had stopped painting for so long, because (I think) I had lost my muse. Well I rediscovered it after I had been away from meri jaan. I've done a few different ones, all having one central theme.. India. Today I'm going to be working on one that I am very excited about. I'll post a picture just as soon as I can. But, for now, here are the others I have finished...









with flash


without flash

0.8 lbs is still a loss...

      ...although I wish it were a larger one. Slow and steady wins the race. I think the problem was that we didn't walk at all last week, which I'm not too happy about. We didn't even go yesterday because it took forever to fix the AC that still doesn't work exactly right. But, no excuses this week. Tomorrow when we get home from Mom's office, we will go immediately after we change, and we will continue to go every day this week. So my fingers are crossed for a bigger loss for next week!

Today is a good day...

      I'm off work today. It has been a pretty lazy Sunday (Ravivaar in Hindi). I feel kind of accomplished today. Not that I have done anything in particular today, but that I am still committed to my weight loss. In the past, I probably wouldn't have made it past a month and I would've reverted back to my old ways of eating/drinking. I just have the best motivation in the world IMO. I am starting to realize that I really really can do this. It may take the whole 11 months, but I will do this! We'll be going to the park after it cools off to finally get back to walking. I am going to insist that we do the entire 2.84 miles. I am also going to attempt to jog some of it if my ankle will allow me to.

      I got one of my Hindi books in the mail a few days ago. It's a Hindi, Urdu, & Bengali Phrasebook. I'm making flash cards of phrases and words that I will probably use most. Jaan told me to memorize the days of the week by the end of today. Monday=Somvaar, Tuesday=Mangalvaar, Wednesday=Buudvaar, Thursday=Guruvaar, Friday=Shuukravaar, Saturday=Shanivaar, and Sunday=Ravivaar.

       I do have to work tomorrow, but I am off Tuesday-Saturday, so I will probably end up going with my mom to her office. I like to go there 1. because it is cooler than the house, 2. better computer, 3.I like to paint there. I have one completed sketch to paint, one sketch that just needs a little more added to it, and I have a sketch planned for another painting, so I will have a lot I can do. I also have another book coming in the mail, so that will also give me more to study... I just need to keep myself busy and stay on track!

After a loooong break, its back to work :-/

      I realize that it has been since Monday that I last posted. Not that it truly matters I guess. The only one who reads this is Jaan. *shrug* I've been doing really well with eating still. I'm slacking just slightly on the water, and we havn't been for our walk in what feels like forever. I'm hoping that we can fit it in tomorrow after I get off work. I am REALLY NOT looking forward to getting up in the morning! Hell, I should be sleeping now..

      I also havn't gotten much done with French or Hindi. Although I can count from 1-10 in Hindi now. Ek, do, teen, char, paanch, chey, saat, aath, nou, das. Oh, and zero is shunya. I did manage to summon the enthusiasm to paint again. I finished two this week, and have sketches for more. I hope that I will be able to start them. I plan to start one of them on Sunday. If I don't finish though, I don't know when I will be able to. There is soooo much stuff I need to do next week. Get a new license, replacement title, plates/tags, inspection, and insurance.. I am going to be pretty good friends with the local DMV by the time I get all this crap sorted out.

Back to blogging...

      So I took the weekend off from blogging, but I'm back at it now. I just didn't have the enthusiasm to blog. But, I am back now so I'll try to keep up. Today is weigh day and I'm pleased to say I am down another 1.8lbs! I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 199.6! Yay!!! I'm pretty excited to see a '1' in front of my weight! I think I will need to reformulate my goals a bit. I didn't expect to lose so much the first week.

      OK, so I only changed a few goals for now. I didn't have to change them all. Here are the ones I did change:

• June 21 (First day of Summer): 196.5
• July 5: 193.5
• September 25 (Festival of India): 175!!

There are a few in-between July and Sept., but I didn't feel the need to change them, they looked good they way they were.  I made the Sept. 25 goal a big goal, and my reward for it will be buying awesome clothes at the Festival of India. So excited!

      Jaan has finally said that he will tell his dad by the end of the week about me. I'm nervous and at the same time I look forward to it because I will know after that when we will get married, and when I will go to India. So I guess we'll see what happens...

      I finally found a cheap book for Hindi and Bengali phrases (it also has Urdu). I ordered it on eBay, and hopefully it will get here within 2 weeks. Only about $5 with free shipping! But I know that this will only be an aid, and I need to find some books that will actually teach me the basics and beyond. Jaan is supposed to find me some books, so I look forward to those as well.

I'm Losing...

      ...Motivation. Not to lose the weight, or to go for walks, but I'm losing motivation to write on this blog. I think its because I'm really down at the moment. It has only been two weeks, and already it feels like it has been a month since Jaan left. He suggested I take some sort of class or do something to keep me busy. I need to continue to paint. I will have to remember to get some paint tomorrow. I'll be having lunch with my best friend, who I havn't seen in months, so I'll have her take me to the craft store. I'll have to post pictures of some of my more recent paintings tomorrow.

      Mom and I went for our walk again today. I'm glad that she is keeping up with it and still has the motivation to keep going with me. We also went to a Restaurant/Bar with some family for my cousin's boyfriend's birthday. I was soo good. I had unsweetened tea that I sweetened with Splenda, and a side salad. Now Mom is cooking some grilled chicken. We'll watch some movies and I'll wait for meri jaan to call.

Breaks over...

      After two days of break from walking, we got back at it and went walking at the park yesterday. My shins had stopped hurting and my ankle is almost completely healed, so hopefully I'll be able to start jogging soon. I also started my french lessons on Livemocha.com yesterday. Its kinda similar to spanish and I think that will help me to learn.

       Jaan gave me a website with the Hindi alphabet and numbers. The alphabet looks kinda intimidating! *sigh* Well I do have like a year! I'm off work until the 11th! Ugh its quite annoying. I stayed home today instead of going to work with my mom. I got to chat on Skype with meri jaan. Now I have nothing to do. I've been watching movies and surfing the net. I should be studying my french or hindi for that matter.. lets see if I can get something accomplished...

June First!

      Today has been pretty uneventful. Worked early this morning, got off at about 3PM and my stupid car wouldn't start, so Mom came and gave me a jump. Then came home for a bit, went to the thrift store, grocery store, dollar store, and movie store. Now Mom is cooking dinner and there isn't much else to do.One thing that I did find out today, was that my (whether she likes it or not) future mother in-law, said she'd "think about" letting him marry me. I hope she realizes that it will happen one way or another. He told me that he had said to her, "please let me be happy!" and that he also told her that he cannot live without me. I think she'll soon start to realize she doesn't have a choice in the matter, and to just accept me and let him be happy.