Week Two - Gaining Momentum

Week two of project de-chubbify went much better than last week. I had a great, healthy week, and my small successes really gave me some energy and momentum to keep it up!

Weigh in: Down another pound. Boo. I wish it was more. So I'm going to work hard to lose 2-3 next week.

High: Keeping with my calorie goal every day except for one. I was really healthy this week! I'm trying to think outside of the box for new healthy meal ideas, and this week I got into wraps, which I normally don't care for that much. I found these tortillas and wrapped up turkey, lettuce, cilantro, guacamole, tomatoes, and cucumber. YUM.

Low: Not meeting an exercise goal. (See below)

Exercise News: I did not get up in the morning this week to work out...woops. In my defense, (although, I know, "excuses, excuses...") I had to stay at work until 9:00 on Monday since the jurors decided to deliberate into the night, and I was super exhausted the next morning. And maybe the next morning and the next. I went to the gym with Taylor on Tuesday night, worked out at home on Wednesday, and then my back was hurting too bad last night to do anything. (That story is for another day, my lack of core strength and poor posture has led my 27 year old back to a herniated disc injury). Today I did pilates for the first time in Division 8's jury room with Judge McGraw and Heather, my office-mate. Judge McGraw is in her sixties, teeny tiny, and so adorable. She looks amazing, and it was mortifying huffing and puffing through stuff that didn't even phase her!!

Goals for next week: Since I do have time off, my goal is to really push it with exercising. I'm going to try a couple classes at our gym, and keep up with walking/running at least three times a week.

First Budget Update

Per my commitment to update every two weeks regarding our plan to get out of debt, here I am!

These two weeks have been hard, but our best two weeks yet. We are not scrambling around and made it through the pay period with money to save. We paid off one of Taylor's credit cards, and I committed to a payment plan for one of my cards so that it will be completely paid off by August 25th. At that point I will be completely credit card free.

As far as our "cash only" plan, we have been pretty good. I did use my debit card for a friend's birthday dinner where I didn't have enough cash, and we used it stupidly for a bbq lunch we were both craving. These next two weeks our plan is to 100% use the cash we have budgeted to use, no slip ups!! I think it's going to be tough because I have Monday, Tuesday and Friday off next week since the judge is on vacation and I'm going to have some extra time on my hands...but no one ever said this was going to be easy!

The low of the two weeks is that we didn't add anything to the emergency fund. That will be another goal for the next two weeks, and I've already budgeted that in, so it's happening, not matter what.

Cheers to over-sharing. Sorry friends.... :( This really is helping me though!!

Week One Update

Summary: I had an okay week, I wish it would have been a little more hard core but I think that slow, baby steps is going to be the best way to lose weight for good. I have been really inspired by this blog: http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/. She lost 135 pounds awhile back and blogs about weight loss, maintenance, cooking, exercising, etc. I love how she doesn't sugar coat how hard it is to lose weight, and encourages nothing but hard, hard work - no short cuts. I also appreciate that although she eats "clean" the great majority of the time, she still loves crappy food and allows herself to indulge. This week I kept my breakfasts and lunches really light, my downfall of course was eating a bite of donut here and there since we're in a jury trial, and the stupid donuts NEVER end. Thank goodness next week and the week after that we're trial-free. And hopefully that following week, June 5th, I will be actually seeing results and won't want to mess up my progress with a bite of donut...

For dinners, we had a healthy Monday and Tuesday, then my portions were out of control a bit at my mom and dad's on Wednesday. Last night was good. I made a healthy version of lasagna with ground turkey on Tuesday that I had leftovers of last night that I will post the recipe of soon. It's good for me to make healthier versions with smaller portions of "indulgent" food so I feel satisfied, rather than the same old chicken or fish and vegetables that make me want to snack literally 30 minutes after dinner.
Weigh in: Down one pound. My goal is to still be that number on Monday!! (and of course hopefully down another one or two by next Friday)

High: Taylor and I got up early yesterday and walked the dogs! I am NOT a morning person so this was a huge accomplishment. I told Taylor that to get me out of bed he needs to say: "Molly, the only way you're going to see change is if you do things that are different and tough and uncomfortable."

Low: The weekend....It was an AWESOME weekend, don't get me wrong, but I didn't really act like I was 100% committed to losing weight. Emily's beautiful wedding on Saturday had great, great food that I did not skimp on (or beer and vino). And of course on Sunday we went to my parents and I had fried artichoke hearts, shrimp and veggies(no problem), more wine I didn't need, and a little sonic blast. woopsies. Although I don't want to eliminate anything, just watch portions and calories, I really need to say no to indulgences like that.

Exercise: Three workouts under my belt! I feel really good about working out every other day.

Goals for next week: Start incorporating jogging into walks. Wake up two mornings to walk/run. Other two workouts don't have to be AM. And of course keep recording everything I eat!

Happy Mother's Day Post - a tad late :)

Happy Late Mother's Day to my beautiful mother, Vicki!!

 Mom's Weekend junior year, the first night she met Taylor!

 Chiefs/Saints game

 Christmas 2007? 2008?

The wedding.

So gorgeous!

Law School graduation, 2011

My mom is amazing. She is so selfless, kind and loving...and she is immensely talented at many things, one of them being scrapbooking. To prove how awesome she is, take a look at the scrapbook she made Taylor and I for Christmas:

 I love how Shamus' nose is in this pic. :)

 can you believe all the details?!

I know. Adorable. Beyond sweet and thoughtful and perfect!!

Thank you for being the best mom ever, mom. I love you and can't ever thank you enough for all that you do!

xoxo,
Molly

Focus.

I am a bit embarrassed (and scared) to do this, but I feel like it’s the only thing I haven’t tried. I’m going to use this blog for accountability purposes. I have GOT to lose weight. I also have GOT to focus on our strategy to get out of debt. Both of these tasks are going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of focus, and I feel like using this to keep me accountable will help. Maybe I'm taking on too much at once, money stuff and losing weight…but I figure if I am really focusing on something, might as well let that energy spill over into something else too.

Last night, Taylor and I sat down and created our “debt snowball” worksheet, which is an action plan to tackle debts - smallest to largest. We also worked out a budget for this pay period and the next. I found that the control I felt over where our money is going made me feel like I can control my behavior with eating and exercising too, so that’s another reason I think I can do both at once. I am HORRIBLE at “control”. I’m really, really good at having no control over my weight, my finances, my schedule, my dogs, anything. I need to take charge of my life and change the things that are making me miserable. I hate the way I look and I hate feeling like we’re never making any head way in terms of our finances. It affects my social life because I never want to go out and be social because I don’t fit into any clothes, I can’t afford and refuse to buy bigger sizes, and even if I’m wearing clothes that do fit, I just don’t like being out and feeling so awful about my appearance. And it usually costs money. L

So here are my goals.

1. Update the blog every two weeks (each pay period) regarding our first try at really  following a budget. We both get paid tomorrow, and from that point on, we are not using our debit cards and only using cash that has been categorically allotted for spending.
2. Actively begin the debt snowball after saving up the "emergency fund", which should be complete by the end of June.
3. Update the blog every week on weight loss. Format: weigh in, highs/lows, exercise update, and goals for the following week.
4. Look at the weight loss thing as a DAILY challenge, not a weekly thing. It hasn’t worked in the past, it’s not going to work now. The “week” mentality lets me get away with too much, I do bad one day and say, “well I have a whole week, I’ll just do better tomorrow and the day after that”. But then I do bad every day.
5. Record everything I eat on myfitnesspal. This shouldn’t be too hard because I already do it, but I normally do it until 4:00 pm and then just “guess” at night, so I’m positive I go over my cal count every day. So all nightly wine, tiny squares of chocolate, and little snacks have to be recorded.
6. Exercise 4 times a week starting today. Walking the dogs counts. (trust me, I am so out of shape that 30 minute walk is huge for me). Move up to five times eventually. Strength/weights at least 2-3 times per week.
7. DON’T QUIT!! I usually quit at 10-15 pounds gone because I feel so great about the loss and think I’m a total super babe. But I’m not, I’m still overweight and I gain it all back immediately.

There are a million other things I want to do, but I think I’ll stop there. The goal is 15-20 pounds down in ten weeks. (how convenient, that’s when I go to Vegas for Laura’s Bachelorette Party!!! J) 30-35 pounds is the ultimate goal, and I don’t care how long it takes, but I’m hoping by September. Baby steps though J

Happy Birthday, Truman!!

Harry S. Truman served as a Jackson County judge before he was president, so guess what? The Courthouse closes on his birthday!! Huzzahh!!!! I get a random Tuesday off! 

To celebrate Truman's birthday eve, Taylor and I went to Chipotle and got margs, then finally went to see The Hunger Games. Very fun.

Today I'm just taking it easy, taking the pups on a walk, and forming a new to-do list. This weekend we have a graduation dinner for my sister (she's getting her master's), a friend's wedding, and mother's day! All these activities probably call for a spray tan. :)

Blogging? What's That? Very Random Post.

There are a few reasons I haven't been an active blogger, the first being that there is some English guy out there named Patrick McCue who google allowed to either hack into my mccue12@gmail.com address or just have the same one...so using this account EVER is sketchy and weird. Does anyone know how to link blogs to new email addresses? I use mollyhartley25@gmail.com now and would really like this blog to be linked to that. I might just have to start a new one.

The other reason is that my division has been in five different trials pretty much back to back since the end of January so we have been super busy. Lots of jurors. Lots and lots and lots of jurors. <insert smiley, tired, annoyed, laughing, confused face>. I have had to deal with panic attacks, vomiting, over-sharing about other unfortunate bodily functions, bus schedules, parking issues, and just pissed off people in general for almost four months now. Fortunately, there are some jurors who actually like jury duty so they bring me lots of baked goods, which is great, but with all the food around during trial I am yet again a fatty mcgee riding the yo-yo weight train for the billionth time. Yay. Regardless, all of these stories are for another time.

Just wanted to stop in to say hello and post a photo that I am way too excited about:

I mean seriously. All three dogs looking at the camera? I should submit this to some puppy modeling agencies.


This is from Bark for Life a couple weekends ago. Lots of people came out with their pups to support the American Cancer Society (including my mom and sister, Jeremy, Mallorie and their husky Skylar, my office mate Heather and her dog Hans, my friend Lauren Williams and her fiance Dan, their dog Henry (Shamus's twin), and of course my two babies and Taylor.) Brittany and Jimmy were also on the committee, so it was just one big happy dog-loving family!

More to come....