I need some ideas of what to write about. So I am looking to you for ideas.

Do you want to hear about what I am eating, how much I am exercising or is there something else that you would like to hear from me? Give me some ideas...please!

Dare To Dream

Let nothing hold you back from exploring your wildest fantasies, wishes, and aspirations.
Don't be afraid to dream big and follow your dreams wherever they may lead you.
Open your eyes to their beauty; open your mind to their magic; open your heart to their possibilities.

Dare to dream.
Whether they are in color or in black and white, whether they are big or small,
easily attainable or almost impossible, look to your dreams, and make them become reality.
Wishes and hopes are noting until you take the first step towards making them something!

Dare to dream.
Only by dreaming, will you ever discover who you are, what you want, and what you can do.
Don't be afraid to take risks, to become involved, to make commitments.
Do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true.
Always believe in miracles, and always believe in you!

-Julie Anne Ford

So I have some good news and some not so good news.
I will start with the good news. The good news has to do with my weight. I weighed myself this morning and I am 203 lbs. Which means that I have let go of 130 lbs and I am only 20 away from my goal and close to being in the 100's! I am so excited to see the scale beginning to go down again. I really want to push through and get the last few pounds off so that I can have that feeling of accomplishment when I reach my goal. I know that with some hard work and dedication, I will be at my goal before I know it.

OK, now for the not so good news...
Someone asked me a question today. This someone is a person that I have met before but I don't really know her. I was talking to someone else and she piped up and asked me a question. Now this is a question that I have been asked before...when I weighed over 300 lbs. It is the dreaded question that every woman does not want to be asked...unless she can answer yes. It is a question that I never expected to be asked again...unless I could answer yes to it. Have you guessed the question? If you guessed "Are you pregnant?" you are absolutely right. YES, I WAS ASKED IF I WAS PREGNANT!!!!! I was stunned when she asked me this, I didn't know what to say, so I just said "NO". She took the wind out of my sails. She might as well have put a knife through my heart and twisted and turned it until I stopped breathing. I'll tell you, she is lucky she still has teeth because it was all I could do to hold mysefl back from hitting her...just kidding. I would never really act out with violence.
Now, I know that I still have some weight to let go of and I know that I carry most of my extra weight around my abdomen, BUT I DON'T THINK I LOOK PREGNANT!! Or maybe I have a distorted vision of what I actually look like and I really do look pregnant. Now, I do get the comment that I am "glowing" and a lot of women glow when they are pregnant so hopefully she saw that I was glowing and she made the comment because of that and not the look of my abdomen.
You know, it really just sucks that someone thinks that I look pregnant enough to ask. Usually, people don't ask a lady if they are pregnant unless they really do look pregnant.
On my way home tonight, I wanted to stop and get some chips but I knew that I wanted them because of the way that I was feeling. I am really trying to kick the "emotional eating habit" that I have developed over the years and I am one step closer to kicking that habit because I did not stop for chips. Today, I took a step forward and I am going to keep stepping forward until I reach my goal!

Nova Scotia Bodybuilding Competition

I spent the past weekend in Halifax attending the Nova Scotia Bodybuilding Competition. I have always wanted to watch a bodybuilding competition and I was finally able to. WOW, it was exciting for me!
I was astounded by the dedication, intensity, focus and hard work that the participants have put in over the last few months to get to where they are able to compete. Watching them on the stage, I saw the blood, sweat and tears that they have shed to get them there...and I am planning on doing it next year. I know it is going to be hard, but in my experience, things that are hard to do are usually the ones that are worth doing.
I want to compete because I want to show myself that I can do it. I want to push myself to that level of dedication and intensity that it takes to compete. I want to be as fit as the athletes that were on the stage. I want to put in the hard work and see the results. I am really excited and fired up to do it! I am going to go into the next few months with a new level of intensity...so watch out!

Update

I have been working the last few days so my life has been work, gym, sleeping and eating. I have been doing LOTS of cardio. I still have not started back at the weights. I had taken a week off from the weights and then I was working the last few days so I have not had a chance to start them again. I am going to Halifax this evening so if I feel like going to the gym when I get there, I may lift some weights then.

I am going to Halifax to watch the Nova Scotia Bodybuilding Competition at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. I can't wait to watch it! I am thinking of participating next year so watching it will help me to decide if it is something that I can do or not. Wait! I know that I can do anything that I set my mind to so it is not a matter of IF I can do it, it is a matter of if I WANT to do it.

It is a beautiful day outside today and I hope the sun continues this weekend. We are overdue for some nice weather

What are your plans this weekend? Like I said, I am going to Halifax, but I plan to get some workouts in and to eat as clean as I can.

So I did end up going for a bike ride. A 16 km one. I used my husbands bike and WOW, what a difference a bike can make. It is a lighter bike and the gears seem to be more suited to me. Also, his bike does not have a break that sticks on all the time like the one that I am using does.
I realize that I am going to have to invest in some foot straps so I can do the push/pull thing up the hills.
The wind was against me on the way back which is the hard way. On the way back there is a 2 km stretch that I call my "Sandstorm". Sandstorm is a song that we spin to in spin class sometimes. It is a 7 minute song with only 2 small breaks. My "Sandstorm" is a 2 km stretch of uphill with about a 10 second downhill thrown in there. Add the wind blowing in your face and you get a great workout!

What a wonderful morning...

I went to the gym this am to do some cardio. I was planning on doing 1 hour and I ended up doing 1 hr & 30 mins. This is what I did...
20 mins on the treadmill (walking)
20 mins on the rowing machine
20 mins on the EFX Elliptical
30 mins on the treadmill alternating between 1 minute of running and 1 minute of walking

I am going to have a bite to eat and then I may go out for a bike ride.

My Day

My day started pretty early. I get up for work at 5:15am. I shower, eat and get ready for work. Ususally I leave home at between 6:20 and 6:30. This morning, I was running a little late and it was about 6:40 when I finally left the house. I walked to the car and noticed that the door was not quite shut all the way. I opened the door and got in the car. Within a few seconds I realized that the whole seat was wet! It had rained last night and remember I said the door was opened a little bit. I found some clothing that was in the car and decided to sit on it to keep myself dry.

Then I went to start the car...and it wouldn't turn over! THE BATTERY WAS DEAD! My first reaction and thought was a bunch of curse words and that I would be late for work adn that my whole day would be affected by this. Then I thought to myself, "what is that negative thinking going to accomplish". I decided that I had control of the situation and I could still make it to work on time, and the day could only get better.

Luckily, we knew that the battery was getting bad i the car and we had bought one of those portable battery 'things'. I don't know what to call it. Basically it will start a car battery. I pulled it out of the trunk, opened the hood, hooked it up and started the car. No problem at all. I took care of the situation and was on the road in less than 5 minutes. I made it to work on time and all was well in my world.

I finished my 12 hour shift and drove to St. Andrews to vote. I had to get my say in...it is important, you know. After I voted, I went back to town and planned on doing 1 hour of cardio. I went on the treadmill for 20 minutes on an incline of 10 and a speed of 4.0. Then I did intervals for 20 minutes on the EFX Ellipitcal at an incline of 10 and a resistance of 6 or 20. After that I went on the spin bike for 30 minutes and I worked hard. In the locker room, I was thinking about my workout and realized that I actually did 1 hour and 10 minutes of cardio...Yeah Me! I think I was so tired that I didn't realize that I had done 10 minutes more than I meant to.

So how did your day go?

A Creed To Live By

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.

Only you know what is best for you.
Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.

Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don't give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Don't be afraid to encounter risks.

It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly;
and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don't dismiss your dreams.

To be without dreams is to be without hope;
to be without hope is to be without purpose.
Don't run through life so fast that you forget
not only where you've been, but also where you're going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored
each step of the way.

-Nancy Sims

You Can Be Whatever You Want To Be!

There is inside you all of the potential to be whatever you want to be,
all of the energy to do whatever you want to do.

Imagine yourself as you would like to be, doing what you want to do,
and each day, take one step towards your dream.

And though at times it may seem too difficult to continue,
hold on to your dream.

One morning you will awake to find that you are the person you dreamed of,
doing what you wanted to do, simply because you had the courage
to believe in your potential and to hold on to your dream.

-Donna Levine