Pinspired

Like so many others... I get inspired by Pinterest daily. This idea seemed too simple and perfect to pass up, so I gave it a try. It all started with a trip to Office Depot. I bought one package of red binder rings, a hole punch (cos can you believe we didn't have one?), and some strong adhesive labels.

 

I used 3M Permanent Adhesive Inkjet, Laser, & Coper Labels and a template from their website to format the labels. The font is one I made from my own handwriting on acrotype.com (another Pinterest idea, btw). The pin I found for this used scrapbook paper to make the front and back covers, but I just decided to cut up the box it came in and use the front and back of that. Maybe not as decorative, but it made sense to me and I was just going to throw the box out anyway.

 

Original pin:

Source: craftster.org via Kaycie on Pinterest

What has Pinspired you lately? 

Day 250 Recap

Breakfast: yogurt; green tea
Lunch: small salad w/turkey and hard boiled egg; grapes, honeydew melon, and baby carrots; steamed mixed vegetables
Dinner: turkey chili w/cheese and picante salsa
Dessert: yogurt
Exercise: 1.5 mi walk

Had a truly amazing weekend. Spent it with family and friends celebrating Husband's birthday! His birthday also happened to be Day 250, so of course I had to take pictures!

Day 1.

Day 250.

I feel like I'm finally starting to see some results again! Here is a recap of all the pictures I've taken...

Happy to be moving in the right direction!

Hope your Monday wasn't too horrible. Have a great week! 

'Night y'all!

The I Love Today Post

Breakfast: 4 egg whites w/onion; yogurt; green tea
Lunch: small salad w/Italian dressing; green beans; honeydew melon, 4 strawberries, and red seedless grapes
Snack: yogurt
Dinner: Romaine lettuce w/grape tomatoes, feta cheese, onion, and honey mustard vinaigrette
Dessert: yogurt
Exercise: NONE

Today = Epic

I woke up and hopped on the scale. Since last Friday, I've lost 8.2 pounds! I was so excited! Now I'm down to 242.6... Ready to make my way back into the 230's and stay there!!

I had a short day at my internship today because some kiddos canceled, so I got to come home early... Always a pleasant surprise! I stopped at Petsmart on the way home and got the pooch some presents. He ran out of dog toys a long while ago, so it was time we got him some new ones!

Then I got home and rested. Got to watch TV and do absolutely nothing. It's been wonderful. In fact, it's still happening. =]

I wish Husband was here to enjoy the relaxation with me, but he's at work. Tomorrow is his birthday and we've got a busy Saturday and Sunday planned to celebrate. I'm so excited and blessed to get to spend another year celebrating his life with him!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

'Night y'all!

Day 248

Exercise 1: 1.5mi walk
Breakfast: yogurt, 4 egg whites cooked with an onion; green tea
Lunch: green beans; side salad w/cucumbers and turkey; red seedless grapes
Snack: 20 baby carrots
Exercise 2: 55min Zumba class
Dinner: NONE (ooopsie.. Got home late and was tired)

Weigh-in's tomorrow and I could not be more excited! I'll let you know how it goes! =]

The Daily Routine Post

Breakfast: yogurt
Lunch: two turkey patties w/cheese and turkey bacon; stir-fry mixed veggies
Snack: red seedless grapes and a cameo apple
Dinner: Romaine lettuce w/grape tomatoes, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and poppy seed dressing
Snack: yogurt
Exercise: 1.5 mile walk; 8.5 mile (20 min) ride on the sauna bike at Tan & Tone

Lunch from today. Yum! Wish there was leftovers!

I am tired.

I just stepped in from finishing up my walk for the day and it's 8:30. I haven't eaten dinner, and I'm really not wanting to eat this late but I know I should at least have a salad. Sigh. I kicked my own butt today and it feels pretty damn good.

I can honestly say that I've never had this much dedication. Despite having popcorn the past two nights, I have 100% stuck to the diet. Every. Single. Day. And it feels great. I'm not saying eating McDonald's, Burger King, and Taco Bell doesn't also feel great... But this is a much more satisfying, long-term "great". I am very very much looking forward to what the scale will say on Friday. I can with every bit of certainty say I've never looked forward to a weigh in as much as I'm looking forward to this one. I know I've put in the work, and I know the scale with show it. I feel lighter and feel better in my skin again. I still have extra bulge I'd put on the past couple months, but I know it won't be stickin' around for much longer and that's so thrilling.

I skipped Zumba last night because yesterday morning's walk put a blister on the ball of my foot about the size of a nickel and I didn't want to make it worse my dancing on it. Maybe it's an excuse, but I'm definitely glad I didn't go. Today I was able to walk my 1/2 mile and then bike 8.5 miles on the sauna bike at Tan & Tone (for free, I might add, since I had a coupon). The sauna bike is basically just a simple stationary bike with sauna lights shining directly on you so you sweat A LOT more than you normally would and burn twice the calories. So, when my ride was done, the machine said I burned 280 calories... Take that and double it to make 560 and that's how much I really burned, with the lights. Then right after that I did my walk... So I'm definitely hoping to sleep well tonight! ha.

Walking in the morning and then Zumba tomorrow night. Sigh. I love having the schedule set so that it's just part of my everyday. I will not miss 5AM walks, though, when this challenge is over. ha. I will just do 1.5 mi a day and do it later in the day. I know, for some people, waking up early to work out is a lifesaver and gives them so much extra energy in the day... But that is not the case for me. It wears me out. And I go to bed early the night before and still am tired. I won't say I'm more tired than I would be normally, but it definitely doesn't give me any boost, which is unfortunate because I'd probably be more likely to continue if it did. I will I do feel mentally more satisfied with myself the rest of the day because I know I started the day off well and have it out of the way. That is definitely nice!

Anyways, I guess I'm gonna go throw together a salad and watch some Teen Mom!

'Night y'all!

Day 246

Breakfast: 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg; yogurt
Lunch: small salad; 2 strawberries, honeydew melon, and grapes
Snack: baby carrots
Dinner: Harvest Chicken Salad from Quizno's
Dessert: popcorn

The New Motto Post

Breakfast: 4 egg whites w/onion; yogurt; green tea
Snack: 1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes
Lunch: Autumn Chopped Salad; green tea
Dinner: "chicken-vegetable spaghetti" (stir-fried veggies and chicken in 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce)
Snack: popcorn
Exercise: 3mi walk w/the dog (1/2 in afternoon, 1/2 in evening)

As I mentioned previously, I started going to a Zumba class last week. Originally I thought "I need to be sure and go at least Tuesday and Thursday, because I don't think I'll know after the first class if I like it or not." And of course the class Tuesday kicked my butt. I kept thinking though "I'll go Thursday and see if it gets better." I had somewhat of a revelation on Wednesday, however, and decided to just commit to it now. I realized that I have a tendency to try a lot of different things "to see if I like it" and then always find some reason not to like it. When really the only thing I don't "like" about it is that it's stinkin' hard!

So I've decided that if there's ever anything I come across that I don't want to finish solely for the fact that "it's hard"... I need to make a point to push myself through it. This goes for exercise, food choices, personal decisions, school, work... Anything. I know this kind of revelation is something that comes natural for most people, and I suppose somewhere I knew that that's what I should do. But it never occurred to me that I need to just make a decision and stick with it.

What did you challenge yourself to do today?