All the Sun For You

A mom, two boys, a husband, and a whole lot of adventure!

Category Archives: Fitness Stat-urday


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12 Weeks of Maintenance – Half Way Done!

Here I am, half way through my “12 Weeks Until the Holidays” challenge to myself.  I really flubbed it this last week – I was so, so sick.  If I get sick (that’s a big IF), I’m usually sick for no more than 24 hours.  This thing got me for 72 hours – 3 whole days.  I was out of energy, suffering a sore throat, and sneezing constantly.  I just did not have it in me to run or do any exercise, really.  Miraculously, I only gained 0.2 pounds from last week until now, and lost body fat.  So, I think it’s fair to say that I’m managing my calorie intake rather well, especially when I’m unable to exercise.

Here are my mid-way stats:

  • Weight:  141.4 pounds (down 1.6 pounds from my starting weight of 143.0 pounds)
  • Body Fat %:  22.8% (neither up nor down – started at 22.8%)
  • BMI:  22.2 (down 0.2 from my starting BMI of 22.4)
  • Natural Waist Measurement:  27.5 inches (no change from starting measurements)
  • Belly Button Measurement:  31.75 inches (no change from starting measurements
  • Hips:  35.75 inches (no change from starting measurements)

Goals for the 12 weeks:

  • I want to weigh 145 pounds or less every Wednesday
    • This goal was 100% met!
  • My body fat cannot go above 24%
    • This goal was 100% met!
  • I want to keep doing 5 hours a week of vigorous activity
    • This was only met one week… most weeks are running about 4.5 hours of activity a week

Thoughts at the Mid-Way Point:

  • I’m really happy with the main stats of weight and body fat % – to be hitting those goals consistently, week after week, with less than 5 hours of exercise is promising for my busier future
  • I do need to be more consistent with exercise, and got back on the wagon today with a horrendous 5 mile run – HA!
  • If I could drop another 1.6-2.0 pounds in the next 6 weeks, I would be under 140 again (I only got under that when I was still nursing Bryson very consistently) which would be pretty awesome!
  • It’s getting colder outside… it’s time to get back into KB in the garage and INSAN.ITY workouts in the kitchen


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Complete: Last 8 Weeks of Summer Fitness

It’s been a great 8 weeks! I was super focused on getting my body back into tip-top shape in preparation for the fall when I’ll have to move most of my workouts indoors. Let’s face it, running outside 5 days a week isn’t going to be doable. Bring on the kickboxing and INS.ANITY workouts!

I knew going into these 8 weeks that weight loss would be hard. I’d crept up to 146.4 in June and seemed to be hanging out there. I’d lost track of food and as we all know, you can’t out-work a crappy diet. That weight is still well within normal for my height and build (5’7 with a medium-large frame, BMI of 22.9), but it was feeling uncomfortable knowing that fall was around the corner. It was time to step it up.

I set goals for core strength, but I was meeting them almost immediately, so I dropped them. I set goals for cross training, and failed miserably. But in calorie consumption, mileage, and activity time goals, I exceeded all expectations… and they were lofty expectations! 1330 net calories a day, 5 hours a week of exercise, and 20-30 miles a week of running (or hiking or very brisk walking). As far as I’m concerned, these last 8 weeks have been very successful and I’m super happy. On top of meeting/exceeding those goals, I managed to drop a very solid 4.2 pounds (my wake-up weight today after no rigorous exercise yesterday and a rather unhealthy dinner last night) and I lost 1.0% body fat (which is 4.4% of the body fat I was carrying). I also dropped a collective 1.75 inches from my frame.

Going into the next 10 weeks, I have three simple goals… I must weigh 145 pounds or less every Wednesday, my body fat cannot go above 24%, and I want to keep doing 5 hours a week of vigorous activity. I chose Wednesday as my weigh-in day because my body has always corrected itself by then from the weekend before. Since I’m truly in maintenance mode (my rib cage is a solid 31 inches measured just below my breasts, and the doctor says it is impossible for it to get smaller, that this is how I’m built), a mid-week weigh-in makes sense. I’ll create a boring page for tracking purposes. I love tracking information!!!

Here are my stats from the last 8 weeks:

Summary (07/04/2015 – 08/28/2015)

  • Weight: 142.2 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained (started at 146.4 pounds): 4.2 Pound lost
  • Body Fat %: 22.7%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained (started at 23.7%): 1.0% Lost
  • BMI: 22.3
    • BMI Points Lost or Gained (started at 22.9): 0.6
  • Workout Days (goal is 48 days)/Time Spent Being Active (goal is 40 hours): 44 Days/44 Hours 35 Minutes
  • Miles Run (goal is 160-240 total miles): 199.70 Miles
  • Days within Calorie Goals per MFP (goal is 45 days with an average of 1330 or less per day): 45 days
    • 49,983 Total Calories in 45 days (average was 1110.73 calories per day
  • Measurements:
    • Natural Waist: 27.5 inches (28.25 inches on 07/07/15)
      • Loss of 0.75 inches
    • Belly Button: 31.75 inches (32 inches on 07/07/15
      • Loss of 0.25 inches
    • Hips: 35.75 inches ( 36.5 inches on 07/07/15)
      • Loss of 0.75 inches


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8 Weeks Left of Summer Fitness – Mid-Way Check-In

I got through the first 4 weeks of the final 8 weeks of summer with really great results with running, but totally skipped out on weight training (always my nemesis) and the 100 Pushups and 200 Sit Ups programs.  In all fairness, after one week of doing the sit ups program, I tested in at 200 in a row – so that program really wasn’t the best for me.  But the pushups were a different story.  I hurt my wrist badly after the first week and a half and had to stop.  I’ve been scared to start again.  I am going to try to start again these final 4 weeks.

As a recap, here are my starting stats on 07/07/2015:

Starting Statistics on 07/07/2015

  • Weight:  146.4 pounds
  • Body Fat %:  23.7%
  • BMI:  22.9
  • Measurements:
    • Natural Waist: 28.25 inches
    • Belly Button: 32 inches
    • Hips:  36.5 inches
  • Core Strength Starting Stats:
    • Starting Sit Ups:  105 (starting at Week 5 of the program)
    • Starting Pushups:  32 – (starting at Week 3 of the program)

Goals for the 8 weeks:

  • Completely finish the core strength programs (200 sit ups, 100 pushups) weeks 2-7
  • At least one (1) cross training session a week (this is hard for me to do in the summers because I’d rather run)
  • Bands/resistance training once a week
  • Clean eating with just one cheat day a week (I will not be logging food here though, but I will confess my sins in the notes section each week – HA!)
  • 20-30 Total running miles each week
  • At least 5 hours a week of exercise (this includes running, core strength, resistance, cross training, lawn mowing, and HARD yard work that makes me sore the next day)
  • Keep within my net calorie goals (1330 per day) 6 days per week (allowed 1 cheat day a week)

Here is where I ended up after 4 weeks – I’m quite happy considering that dropping weight just isn’t easy for me right now.  I’m at a good BMI and body fat percentage for my height and age, so I can’t expect to lose much more without a serious overhaul of what I’m doing.

Week 4 Statistics

  • Weight:   144.4 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  2 Pound lost
  • Body Fat %:  23.4%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.3% Lost
  • BMI: 22.6
    • BMI change in 4 weeks (starting was 22.9):  0.3
  • Workout Days (goal is 24 days)/Time Spent Being Active (goal is 20 hours):  21 Days/19 Hours 29 Minutes (damn – just shy of the goal!)
  • Miles Run (goal is 80-120):  98.54 Miles
  • Days within Calorie Goals per MFP: Of the 6 days a week that I tracked (allowing 1 free day a week), I averaged a net of 1,130 per day – right on par with a  1200 goal and well under a 1330 goal!
  • Measurements:
    • Natural Waist: 27.5 inches (28.25 on 07/15) – lost 0.75 inches
    • Belly Button: 32 inches (32.0 on 07/15) – lost/gained 0 inches
    • Hips:  36.0 inches (36.5 on 07/15) – lost 0.5 inches

So – I’m a happy camper right now!  My average running distance has moved from 5 miles per day to 5.5-6 miles per day, so that’s awesome!  My pace improves so I’m not spending much more time running that extra distance.  Eating is going well, but I’ve got that so figured out that I’d be so angry with myself if it wasn’t going as planned.  All-in-all, I’m happy and am ready to kick it up a bit these final 4 weeks.


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Finishing Out Summer Fitness Plan

I need a new fitness plan.  After thinking on it for quite a while, I came up with the one linked here.  I’m testing in with my sit ups, pushups, and squats tonight and will kick that training off on Saturday.  I’m running up until then and am logging as of this week.  In case you’re interested, you can check it out, but don’t feel like you need to.  🙂


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Week One is DONE – And an Update!

I finished up my first week of “Marathons for Sammy” on Friday.  It was a good week – not GREAT – but definitely good!  Stats are there if you care at all  😉

In case you’re wondering, Sam is doing GREAT!  We got devastating news a week ago this past Friday (docs said he’d never wake up) but then Sammy started kicking it into overdrive.  HE IS AWAKE!  Even better, he is starting to stand for longer and longer every day (up to 3 minutes, 45 seconds yesterday), moves his arms and legs and head etc., SMILES, laughs, talks, and can eat anything he wants now!  My aunt keep reminding everyone that he is far from healed and has a long road ahead of him, but all that matters to me is that he is on the road!

It sounds like they will likely be moving Sam to my fair city for rehabilitation.  This is great news for SK and me, and my other cousins and second cousins and aunt and uncle who live here.  It is further away from home for my Aunt K and Uncle D, so that’s tough.  But I think my aunt is looking forward to being closer to so much family.  SK has decided to skip her NYC internship and stay with us longer – which we are very excited about!  Her internship here is letting her stay on as long as she wants and she wants to stay close to Sam until she has to go back to school (only 45 minutes from here).

So – things are good!  But you know, I always thought he’d wake up and recover.  I honestly am not surprised.  When I got the call a week ago that he would never wake up, I was DEVASTATED and in total shock and disbelief.  I’ve just always thought he needed time to recover and get back to his life.  He’s doing that!


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Marathons for Sammy

In one of my aunt’s posts on Caring Bridge about Sam, she wrote about his recovery being like a marathon:

“Now, to further explain what the word “recover” means. Again, we have no way of knowing what the extent of his recovery will be. This is going to be a long-haul — doctors have referred to it as “a marathon”. We could see little improvement, a complete recovery, or somewhere in-between. Like we keep saying, we just don’t know, and won’t know until Sam wakes up.”

I’ve been struggling to come up with a new fitness plan for myself, and I really want to do more cross training.  I need to get into the garage to kick the bag and do some INSA.NITY, but I really, really enjoy running.  I’m thinking of running as much as I can in the mornings and evenings, and doing garage workouts a couple of days a week during nap time (they both still nap at the same time, but I think that’s coming to an end this summer…).  When I read the above about Sam, I knew right away what my next self-imposed fitness challenge would be.

Until Sammy wakes up, I will run as many “marathons” as I can, meaning keep count of each and every run and start a new set every time I compile 26.2 miles.  I tend to just think of him while I run, so why not run for him?

So far, I’ve logged 13.03 miles:

Tues, 06/02/15    5.24 miles

Wed, 06/03/15    3.03 miles (fastest ever, I might add!)

Thur, 06/04/15   4.76 miles

These are much shorter distances than I’m used to, but I like them quite a bit and I’m not training for anything right now (I did NOT run that half marathon on Saturday, which was a blessing since I had to drive 4.5 hours to Sam at 3:00 that afternoon).  My goal is to log at least one cross training and also one strength session a week.

I’ll log everything here, and I’m starting on Saturday (but will include the miles already accumulated in marathon #1)


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Fitness Check-In

My goodness, it’s been FOREVER since I’ve checked in here on my fitness.  I was doing another 10 weeks of fitness challenge with myself, but quit after writing this post because, well… it was very eye-opening and I thought it was time for a break on weekly logging of stats.  I didn’t even announce my departure from Fitness Staturdays – I just departed.

And it’s felt good.

But it is time to ramp things up again because my half marathon is next weekend and honestly, I’m ready for a change of pace.  Running on a schedule is no fun at all and this time around (I’ve run 3-4 20K’s or half marathons in the past – I can’t remember), I told myself that I will not be doing this again.  I had a pretty serious foot injury that should have side-lined me for at least 6 weeks, but a solid week of no running got me ready to run again (my doctor agreed it was OK).  The injury (a ruptured plantar fascia in my left arch, meaning that it is forever severed and will never heal back together) should have been way more painful than it was, but my family’s insane pain threshold has been passed onto me and I healed up as quickly as I healed from my C-sections – so I’m out running again.  BUT, the same thing could happen to my right foot, and that arch is burning a bit here and there, so I’m pretty nervous about the race.  I’m doing a trial long run this weekend (10-11 miles) to see if I can do it without upsetting my arches, and I’m staying close to home.  The longest I’ve run so far is 9 miles (which is when I ruptured it) so I know I can squeak out 13.1, but I’m not sure I want to.  I’m not sure that I want to risk a similar, or worse, injury.  It is more important to keep running for the rest of my life than to cross a particular finish line and have an injury that could side-line me for weeks to forever.

So I’m not sure.

Anyway, back to the point of this post – I’ve been running 20-30 miles a week both indoors and outdoors and it feels great, but I need a change.  I need to get back out to the garage to do some kickboxing, I need to do INSA.NI.TY again, and I need to get back to ab and strength work.  I’ve gotten a bit soft.  Before you go on and say, “no you haven’t – etc. etc.” check out my stats from the last time I checked in:

  • Weight:   137.8 Pounds
  • Body Fat %:  21.9%
  • BMI: 21.9
  • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  6 Days
  • Time Spent Being Active:   4 Hours 42 Minutes
  • Miles Run:  21.3 Miles

And compare them to now:

  • Weight:   144.4 Pounds
    • Difference of 6.6 pounds
  • Body Fat %:  23.3%
    • Difference of 1.4%
  • BMI: 22.6
    • Difference of 1.7
  • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  5 Days
  • Time Spent Being Active:   6 Hours 2 Minutes
    • A good increase, but it was a good week!
  • Miles Run:  20.2 Miles (and includes 4 miles of walking)

This isn’t horrible by any stretch, but see what I mean?  A little soft.  It turns out that Bryson was a pretty serious little cardio machine and I didn’t even realize it.  I plugged 200 calories a day into MFP for nursing, and I’m thinking it was much higher.  I believe that 5 of the added 6.6 pounds is from weaning – that kid was keeping me trimmed down.  Not counting his calorie usage correctly means that I shorted myself probably 100-150 calories a day, which explains why I dropped more than 1.5 pounds a week back then and was starting to look a little gaunt in the face (I can admit it).

So – once this race is or isn’t done, 😉 I’m going to take a week to figure out what I want to be doing.  I REALLY love running, especially outside, but I need to get my strength up and my abs toned again.  Man alive, I loved my abs back in January.  Unfortunately, those aren’t easy to maintain (well, they actually are if I just do ab work while Hottie reads books to Matthew each night).  I have a feeling that on the days I don’t run (I skip to rest my shins – if they didn’t hurt, I’d run every day), I think I’ll do some kickboxing since Matthew is OUT OF MY ROOM FOR NAPS and the bag in the garage won’t wake him now.

I’m not at all bothered by my current stats – I’ve never maintained 140-145 pounds in my life and I’ve maintained it since before Thanksgiving, so that’s awesome – but I need to mix things up a bit.  And I need to stop eating sweets.  Now that my period is back, I have a serious sweet tooth.  Who knew?

I’ll check in with starting stats in a couple of weeks!

 

 

 


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Fitness Stat-urday 2015 – Weeks 3 and 4

Starting Statistics on 01/03/2015

  • Weight:  144.4 Pounds (I gained 2 pounds between my holiday challenge and weigh-in, good gawd!)
  • Body Fat %:  22.9% (I gained here too – oops!)
  • BMI:  22.6

Goals for the Next 10 Weeks (Ending 03/13/2015)

  • Weight:  135 Pounds
  • Body Fat %:  <21%
  • BMI:  21.1
  • Total Miles Each Week (Average):  25-30

Week 3 Ending 01/23/2015

  • Week 3 Statistics
    • Weight:   137.8 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  0 Pounds lost
    • Body Fat %:  21.9%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.0% Lost
    • BMI: 21.9
    • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  6 Days
    • Time Spent Being Active:   4 Hours 42 Minutes
    • Miles Run:  21.3 Miles
  • Food: 
    • Saturday – Humus, carrots, smoked chicken
    • Sunday– Chicken 🍗 and avocado sandwich
    • Monday – Butternut squash soup 🍲
    • Tuesday – Spinach salad
    • Wednesday – Curry burgers
    • Thursday – Spinach salad
    • Friday – Free night – Mexican!
  • Exercise: 
    • Saturday – Treadmill walking (21 minutes), ab work (13 minutes)
    • Sunday– Running outside!!!! (60 minutes)
    • Monday – Treadmill running (50 minutes), walking (10 minutes)
    • Tuesday – Treadmill running (43 minutes), walking (7 minutes)
    • Wednesday – Ab work (13 minutes)
    • Thursday – Rest
    • Friday – treadmill running (60 minutes), walking (5 minutes)
  • Notes: 
    • I’m likely not weighing in this week since I’ll be out of town starting EARLY Thursday morning. I could use Thursday’s weight, but that’s 2 days and 2 workouts early… And I like using my scale.
    • The weekend was hard on my body. Ha!
    • We are having tremendous weather here, allowing me to run a bit outside and just feel motivated to keep on keeping on.
    • I finished the week strong with a long treadmill run in Friday while on vacation. I ate reasonably well so felt good about that as well!
    • 138.4 pounds on Thursday when I left and 21.8% body fat… But those aren’t official numbers

Week 4 Ending 01/30/2015

  • Week 4 Statistics
    • Weight:   137.8 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  0 Pounds lost
    • Body Fat %:  21.3%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.6% Lost
    • BMI: 21.6
    • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  5 Days
    • Time Spent Being Active:   4 Hours 53 Minutes
    • Miles Run:  21.19 Miles
  • Food: 
    • Saturday – Tijuana train wreck
    • Sunday– Chicken and avocado sandwich
    • Monday – Meatballs
    • Tuesday – Meatballs (again!)
    • Wednesday – Butternut squash soup 🍲
    • Thursday – Greek chicken
    • Friday – Date night!
  • Exercise: 
    • Saturday – Treadmill running (55 minutes), walking (5 minutes)
    • Sunday– Treadmill running (51 minutes), walking (5 minutes)
    • Monday – None – rest day
    • Tuesday – None – umm….
    • Wednesday – INS.ANI.TY (52 minutes)
    • Thursday – Treadmill running (54 minutes), walking (6 minutes)
    • Friday – Treadmill running (61 minutes)
  • Notes: 
    • I was forced to do INS.ANI.TY on Wednesday because the treadmill appeared to be broken after a power surge in the house. Hottie fixed it when he got home, but it was a nice reminder that I like that workout and should be doing it more often!
    • Back to 137.8 on Thursday before saturday weigh-in. We have date night tonight (Friday) so I’ll use today’s stats.
    • I’m thrilled with my body fat %. I saw 21.1% for two days, so that’s promising!
    • I’m confident I’ll hit my goals this session. I’d like to exceed them. 6 weeks to go!

 


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Fitness Stat-urday 2015 – Week 2

Starting Statistics on 01/03/2015

  • Weight:  144.4 Pounds (I gained 2 pounds between my holiday challenge and weigh-in, good gawd!)
  • Body Fat %:  22.9% (I gained here too – oops!)
  • BMI:  22.6

Goals for the Next 10 Weeks (Ending 03/13/2015)

  • Weight:  135 Pounds
  • Body Fat %:  <21%
  • BMI:  21.1
  • Total Miles Each Week (Average):  25-30

Week Ending 01/16/2015

  • Week 2 Statistics
    • Weight:   137.8 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  1.8 Pounds lost
    • Body Fat %:  21.9%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.3% Lost
    • BMI: 21.6
    • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  6 Days
    • Time Spent Being Active:   5 Hours 47 Minutes
    • Miles Run:  27.65 Miles
  • Food: 
    • Saturday – Chinese food
    • Sunday– apricot chicken, mushrooms, sprouts
    • Monday – Panera
    • Tuesday – leftover apricot chicken, spinach salad
    • Wednesday – Smoked meat and green beans
    • Thursday – Spinach salad
    • Friday – Date night – free night!
  • Exercise: 
    • Saturday – Treadmill running (60 minutes), walking (15 minutes)
    • Sunday– None – rest say
    • Monday – Treadmill running (50 minutes) walking (14 minutes)
    • Tuesday – Treadmill running (60 minutes)
    • Wednesday – Treadmill running (51 minutes), walking (14 minutes)
    • Thursday – Strength class (50 minutes), treadmill walking (23 minutes)
    • Friday – Treadmill running (50 minutes), walking (10 minutes)
  • Notes: 
    • What a week! I dropped my weekly (sometimes twice weekly) pizza for an awesome bacon salad, and that seems to have made a difference. We’ve also been eating more spinach salads at home for dinner
    • It felt great to lift weights again. It’s been too long!
    • I’ve met my mileage goal both weeks so far, and it’s been quite easy. Running has become my lazy workout and I need to get back to IN.SANITY next week
    • This weekend is going to bring me a couple of outdoor runs. I’m so excited!
    • Safely in the 130’s is so close, I can taste it (137.8 this morning, and safe is 136 or less)!

 


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Fitness Stat-urday 2015 – Week 1

Starting Statistics on 01/03/2015

  • Weight:  144.4 Pounds (I gained 2 pounds between my holiday challenge and weigh-in, good gawd!)
  • Body Fat %:  22.9% (I gained here too – oops!)
  • BMI:  22.6

Goals for the Next 10 Weeks (Ending 03/13/2015)

  • Weight:  135 Pounds
  • Body Fat %:  <21%
  • BMI:  21.1
  • Total Miles Each Week (Average):  25-30

Week Ending 01/09/2015

  • Week 1 Statistics
    • Weight:   139.6 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  4.8 Pounds lost
    • Body Fat %:  22.2%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.7% Lost
    • BMI: 21.9
    • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  6 Days
    • Time Spent Being Active:   5 Hours 23 Minutes
    • Miles Run:  26.00 Miles
  • Food: 
    • Saturday – Free night of pizza, cupcakes, oh yeah!
    • Sunday– Greek chicken and carrots
    • Monday – Pork and apple sliders with mashed sweet potatoes
    • Tuesday – Chicken non-tortilla soup
    • Wednesday – Srirachi maple shrimp with bacon and pineapples, carrots
    • Thursday – Leftover chicken non-tortilla soup
    • Friday – Date night!
  • Exercise: 
    • Saturday – Treadmill running (60 minutes)
    • Sunday– None – Rest day
    • Monday – Abdominal work (13 minutes)
    • Tuesday – Treadmill running (37 minutes), abdominal work (13 minutes)
    • Wednesday – Treadmill running (45 minutes), treadmill walking (6 minutes) abdominal work (13 minutes)
    • Thursday – Treadmill running (53 minutes), walking (7 minutes), abs (13 minutes)
    • Friday – Treadmill running (60 minutes), abs (13 minutes)
  • Notes: 
    • Quick gain is a quick loss! I’m shaping up to be around 141 by the end of this week.
    • I’m doing lots of ab work every night as Hottie reads to Matthew, and that’s working out nicely.  I’m sore, but it’s necessary!
    • 140.6 on Thursday morning! Holiday pudge is gone!
    • We have date night tonight (Friday), so I’m stealing next week’s free night for tonight’s dinner. I weighed in on Friday because I never weigh in after a free night!