I've been silent for over a week on here; oops!  Unfortunately I came down with a cold last Wednesday so haven't been feeling up to blogging and all that.

But, it's been a good week!  I weighed in last Wednesday...I stayed exactly the same from the week.  Not ideal at this point obviously, but I will happily blame 'that time of the month' and move on.

As far as the goals I set for myself, here is how I've done:

- The first goal was to workout 4 times; this was an epic fail.  I worked out once, got sick the next day, and haven't felt well enough to workout since.  It was also over 100 degrees on the heat index a couple days last week which made is impossible as well.  But, I succumbed to taking Sudafed this morning so am actually feeling up for working out!  I'm going to head back for a Step aerobics workout this evening.
-Goal #2 was to drink at least 64 oz. of water each day: goal achieved!  I thank the cold for this one a little, but I have been drinking water like it's nobody's business.  Go me!
-I also haven't had coffee since my last blog post....go me!
-Sleep has been good most night's too!  A few mornings I have woken up on my own before my alarm clock but I've been feeling rested so I'm counting that.
-Definitely didn't blog 4 times...sorry guys :P
-And lastly, I only ate out one time!  Had a grilled chicken salad with dressing on the side.

I've been weighing myself often and been keeping close tabs on myself so am anticipating a loss tomorrow.  Can't say for sure how much; I'm hopeful I'll drop a little more between this morning and tomorrow morning. 

Anyways, last night was the exception to good sleep so I'm going to go take a little nap while the kids I nanny for are taking their nap.  

thanks for reading! :)

~J

Goal setting

I don't have much energy but I thought I would check in before heading to bed.

Things were going great paleo-wise but I took a step back the past 3-4 days or so.  It was that time of the month and for all you women out there, you know what that can be like!  I craved every kind of bad food and was just EXHAUSTED.  Not all was lost by any means but I'm excited to get back to 'normal' tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a big day...I've got 5 weeks until I move out and head to a 2 week brass quintet seminar.  As they say, it's go time!

I've got to 1) save money, 2) practice my instrument, and 3) eat paleo.

1) Can't afford to purchase anything that isn't essential at this point.  Kind of a bummer because I feel like I have been working so hard but the reality is that I have a lot to save to make everything happen that is in the works.

2) I've been doing 1.5-2 hours daily and that changes as of tomorrow.  I must and will get back to practicing my normal 3 hours.  I have a lot of music to learn and I want to sound my best going into the seminar.

3) Paleo: I still have the same goals and am still just as committed.  I will keep working and I will keep dropping weight.  And my best friend is doing it with me now...we are going to help each other.  I want to lose at least 10 pounds in the next 5 weeks.


Goals for this week:
- Workout 4 times (have a run be at least 1 of those times)
- Drink at least 64 oz. of water daily.
- No coffee. Only tea if necessary.
- Get at least 7 solid hrs of sleep a night and shoot for 8.
- Eat 100% paleo.
- Blog 4 times. (this counts as 1!) ....writing is cathartic and I'm convinced that I'm more successful when I blog than when I don't.
- Only eat out 1 time. (I made plans with my roomie to go out to eat Thursday night but other than that I'm staying home)  

I gotta say, it feels good to have written those down.  I'm off to go work on the sleep one...time to head in that direction since I've got an early morning tomorrow.

Thanks for listening. :)

FMM: Bedroom Habits

Hello all! I'm way late considering there is only a couple more hours in Monday, but you know what they say! Better later than never....right?

Anyways, things are well over here. I went for another run Saturday morning and cut 13 seconds off of my mile time! I was hurting though, running requires muscles that I don't work very often! But I was proud of myself for doing it again and plan to get out there again soon! My eating shaped up over the weekend as well and I feel like I'm finally getting over this craving hump and perhaps catching on to a bit of a rhythm. Feels good to feel in control. :)


Now onto FMM!





If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links there too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Bedroom Habits

1. Do you set an alarm clock? If so, for what time? Ugh. yes. I set three in fact. If I have to shower they are set for 6, 6:10, and 6:15. and no shower? 6:15, 6:25, and 6:30.

2. How many hours of sleep do you get on an average night? I have been diligently trying to get to as close to 8 as possible and usually get around 7.

3. Do you bring your laptop to bed? Yep! Don't think it's the best thing for ya but it helps me wind down a little. I try to keep the screen pretty dim which helps me justify it a little.

4. How many pillows do you require to sleep? 2. If I ever get stuck with just one I always fold it in half! hehe.

5. Do you sleep with socks on? Never ever. Cannot stand the feeling!

6. How often do you change the sheets? Every couple of weeks I'd say; more than a week, less than a month just sort of depending.

7. Do you remember your dreams? Not usually. If I fall back asleep after my alarm goes off then yes but it's pretty infrequent otherwise

8. Which side of the bed do you sleep on? Believe it or not, I'm still camping out on a twin bed! So right smack dab in the middle. :) But usually if I'm sharing a bed I take the left side (if you are standing at the foot of the bed)

9. How often do you take naps? Since I'm a nanny and the babies I watch nap sometimes I can sneak in a little nap during the day...I'd say those happen twice a week. And then I usually take a small nap on Sunday afternoons. :)

10. Do you sleep soundly? Yes! Once I'm asleep I sleep very well up to the time when my alarm goes off. Many people have had problems with that and I'm thankful that it's never really been an issue for me.


Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments! And hey…try saying hi to someone new this week! Happy Monday, Friends…

...just keep swimming...just keep swimming...

I think it's almost been a week since I posted! *yikes*

Last weekend I was away from my kitchen a lot but was able to make good choices!  I went to Friendly's for a late lunch last Saturday and I was able to find one thing on the menu that was paleo.  I'm sure there was a hidden something in my steak and veggies, but considering what my other options were I was pleased.  And then on Sunday a close friend of mine took me out to dinner at a local restaurant which had quite a few paleo options!  I've noticed that the nicer the restaurant the easier it is to eat out on paleo.  I ordered a greek salad with chicken....it was huge!!!  And had lots and lots of vegetables too!  I ended up taking about half of it home and eating it Monday night for dinner.

I must digress though and tell you a little bit more about this place....first of all, it's delicious, is always crowded, and is a fan favorite for our college town.  Secondly, it's known for it's popovers.  Huge, delicious, warm popovers that come with an equally delicious apple butter.  So, I made the conscious decision to "cheat" and upgrade to a popover instead of getting the roll or whatever that comes with the salad.  And my friend agreed to help me share it so I felt less guilty. ;)  Here is where I struggle though and I don't know where the balance is....do I get a popover (or whatever else it may be) every once in a while because that's life and accept the consequences (not as much weight loss is the main one that comes to mind), or do I go hardcore 100% until I reach my goal weight and then 'live a little' once in a while?  I don't really know the right answer and I'm sure everyone has their own opinion.  This is where that learning curve comes in....I need to figure out what works best for me and what is going to help me long term.

Fast forward to Wednesday now; that was weigh-in day!  I don't know what I weighed when I re-started blogging last week so I can't say how things fluctuated but I will say that the scale showed a 16.2 pound loss since I started on this grand adventure.  I will be able to get a more accurate assessment next week and then we can go from there I suppose.

Things that haven't gone well: I didn't keep my eating in check on Wednesday after my weigh-in and that has sort of spilled over into yesterday and today too.

And, I will likely have a drink or two tonight because I'm hanging out with a friend of mine who is leaving to go out of town for over a month tomorrow so I imagine we will want to have a drink or two to celebrate.  But come tomorrow we must get back on track.  I want this too bad not to make it happen at this point.

Things that have gone well:  I ran over a mile without stopping yesterday!  To many this is not a big deal and is something that they have been able to do for as long as they can remember.  But to me, it was huge!  I can't ever remember being able to do that so I was thrilled.  I was slow but I ran the whole time! And then after a quick phone break I ran home!...another .85 miles.  I'm super excited about this...I just need to find some good tunes that are at about the pace I want to run and I'll be set.! I have never considered myself to be a runner but knowing I can run over a mile is a huge boost to the confidence.  I'm definitely sore today, but am thinking about getting out there again sometime this weekend to see how I do!

In other news, I need to up my practice time and start clocking more hours at school.  That also starts Saturday.  (Today I have a haircut appt. after work so wont likely get a ton of time by the time I'm finished with all that)  Working towards getting better at French horn is just as important, if not more important, as losing weight is and I will not let this summer go to waste!

Oh, and lastly- I've been making a point to drink a lot of water every day.  Some days are better than others but I'm really making an effort because I know it's a really important aspect of weight loss.  And along those same lines, I've also been making an effort to get to bed on the earlier side so that I can get 7.5-8 hours of sleep every night by the time I get my butt out of bed at 6:30am.  Those are two things that people always say are really important for weight loss that I never do so I'm making an effort to try and make those things happen.  In turn, I'm also trying to cut coffee/caffeine.  I've only been mildly successful in that category so far. :P

I think that's it for now, I'll be back soon!

~Julia

I got a flat tire :/ ...and my Allergies are killer!

Good morning y'all, Happy Saturday. :)

I'm up early with a few minutes to post before I go about my day so I thought I would check-in.

My exciting story for the day is that I got a flat tire late last night when I was leaving a friends house.  Bummer, right?  My friend jacked up my car and went to go take off the tire but it unfortunately was stuck on there.  So we ended up calling AAA and waited for over an hour for them to come.  When I finally got home, almost 2 hours later than I anticipated, I was very excited to crawl into bed.  I don't think it even took 5 minutes and I was out.  My kitty slept next to me all night too!  He's a cutie. :)

My choices were pretty good last night though, so go me!  I had a little bit of red wine with my friend (a glass or less) and then when I got hungry snacked on these veggie chips.  The ingredients were vegetables and oil. (Safflower, and canola...no soy!) Had I been at my place I probably would have snacked on something else but considering I was at my friend's house I was really happy with the find.  I also went for a Coke Zero towards the end of the night as well cause I wanted to be sure to be awake enough for the drive home.  It's all about the little victories for me so I'm going to go ahead and take that one. :P

Unfortunately, my allergies have been killer lately.  The pollen levels have been crazy high! I've been taking Claritin in hopes to help them but it doesn't seem to be doing much.  And if it is I can't even imagine what they would be like without anything.  I'm considering switching to another OTC antihistamine next time I go to the store in hopes that that may provide some additional relief.  *achoo!*

Today I'm headed to some rehearsals for a gig and am going to be dealing with being away from a kitchen all day.  It's always tricky to eat out on paleo, but I am determined to find a good place with good choices.  I also plan on packing some fruit, veggies, nuts, and a lara bar. Ah, the life of a caveman.

So that's what is happening with me in a nut shell.  Thanks for stopping by!

Next post: Water, and sleep.  Cause those are important.

Stay tuned!

~J