WLW-not much to report

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 180
% lost overall: 16.28%
no change

Wow, yet another week with no change. I have so much on my plate right now, I am just glad it's not going UP! I volunteered at the Pembroke Welsh Corgi National Herding Trial this weekend. It was so great to see all those Corgis out there doing real working dog stuff! And after watching all those small (compared to the sheep) dogs working and not getting hurt, I am more optimistic that Sully could probably get to at least HT level, maybe PT. So next year we might try it out at an instinct test.

But this year we're too busy working on obedience! We've been working jumps and retrieves all month and have until the end of October to perfect our Graduate Novice skills for the Lakeshore Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club's Specialty.

I haven't just been training a corgi, I've been crafting them! I've gotten a lot of orders from my Etsy shop for Corgi pins and Corgi fairy costumes, among other things. So I have been busy trying to keep up.

More crafting for the store while trying to fit in more personal crafting is tough! I was hoping to have a skirt to post today for Wardrobe Refashion but it's not done. Plus that pink strippie quilt isn't going to make itself!

Add to that fitting in running and walking, classes at the gym, arranging snack this weekend for the Habitat for Humanity crew and lunch later this month, oh yeah, and WORK, which pays for all of this! I was hoping fall would be a relaxing break from spring an summer but it seems summer was my short break and fall is ramping up to be busier than any other time!

Weight Loss Wednesday

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 180
% lost overall: 16.28%
no change

No change. Again. Sunday and Monday saw me sick and eating nothing but saltines, jello, white toast and cream of rice cereal. So I am just happy to be back to normal!

Today I'm going to talk about something that may annoy those who have not made much progress yet toward their fitness goals. But to me, it is an everyday issue. My clothes do not FIT! Yes, everyone jokes about how wonderful it is, it's a great sign, that's how you know you're working hard!

But when your pants won't stay up, make you look 20 pounds heavier than you are, require safety pins AND a belt and you don't have a fortune to spend on a completely new wardrobe, it doesn't feel very great. I took a shopping trip to Old Navy a few months back (when I got a $45-off-$100 coupon) and got two new pairs of pants, a dress and a few tops. Oh, and a skirt! But that won't get you through the work week! So I am forced to wear what I have.
And this leads me to my fall project! Wardrobe Refashion! I will be making over some of the clothes I already own. I have taken the two month pledge so throughout October and November, I will be refashioning old clothes or using up my fabric stash to make new ones. Visit the blog to see my first two shirts.
And because I haven't posted a food picture in a long time, this is a lasagna I made to use up the garden veggies, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes. It was darn tasty!

A trip to the Zoo and Gardens

We went to the Indianapolis Zoo! You know what that means.....animal pictures!
Polar bear is giving us a nice smirk. Or is that a snarl?
Adorable baby giraffe, scratching it's foot!
Our favorite type of cow, the Scottish Highland.
Zebra, doing zebra things.
And who's this?? It's Red, in the window where he can see us when we're in the backyard!

And attached to the Zoo is the White River Botanical Garden. I found three new plants I'll be adding to my garden next year! The Garden has this great resource center where you can find information about ALL the plants that grow there so they helped me identify these two that weren't labeled.
Tasselflower won me over with its tall stems and adorable deep orange-red button-sized flowers. I like tall plants!

Burro's Tail Spurge was a plant I saw in the Zoo, not the gardens, but it form such lovely large clumps I knew I had to know what it was. In the spring, it has yellow flowers at the tips of the stalks. I LOVE succulents, especially larger varieties that are perennial here in central IL. However, Euphorbias are toxic so I'm going to save this one for when I turn the planter beside the house into a rock/cactus garden so that it will inaccessible to any animals in the yard.

Weight Loss Wednesday

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 180
% lost overall: 16.28%
no change

I am sort of at a plateau/maintaining stage. I'd like to loose another 10 pounds so I'm devising a plan. I'm quite ready to post until I get it drilled down to 3 or 4 goals (daily dietary goal, weekly exercise goal, strength/flexibility training goal) so for today, I will talk about what tools I use online.

Of course you already know I LOVE SparkPeople! SparkPeople is not only great for tracking nutrition and fitness but it has GREAT articles, recipes, and really active groups (SparkTeams). You HAVE to try their FREE workout videos (especially Coach Nicole's videos)

Another great source for inspiring articles with real-life goals and ideas is Fitness Magazine. It's very fresh, and the workouts and workout playlists are awesome! I think their (FREE!) Loose 10 pounds in 30 days program may be in my future to help move along my progress. And I actually LOVE their Daily Fit Tip emails, it's not just spam like so many other mass emails.

I LOVE to cook! So I'm always on the lookout for new recipes. I have a subscription to Taste of Home Healthy Cooking, but they have many recipes are online. If you like old fashion down-home cooking a la Taste of Home but want less fat and calories, this magazine is great! I love that most of their recipes use things you have on hand. I hate magazines that expect you to make a special shopping trip every time you pick a recipe from their magazine.

Weight Loss Wednesday

I've joined this little meme to get back into updating my fitness progress weekly. (For those just joining my progress, you can visit my last fitness-related post to get the most recent stats.)

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 180
% lost overall: 16.28%

Exercise:
I've been running about 2.5 miles 2-3 times each week. I dread the winter when I have to do 2-3 days a week on the treadmill because I LOVE running outside! I tried out a new class at the gym called Team Strength Extreme. We used LESS equipment than we normally do in regular Team Strength class and while I was doing it, it didn't seem so EXTREME. But the next day, I felt it! In my chest and quads and back! I've been logging my minutes into the Presidential Champions website and I'm over halfway to my bronze award! If you are just starting out, I'd encourage you to start with the Active Lifestyle program, which I completed in June.

Food:
I don't follow any particular diet plan or use Slimfast or go to Weight Watchers. I simply eat vegetarian and follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I make healthy choices: at least one fruit and veggie with every meal, low fat dairy, high fiber breads and cereals. And 20% of the time I eat what I want, like yesterday when I ate half (yes, HALF!) of the 10" pizza we got from Monical's along with a breadstick and side salad with full fat dressing! I don't deprive myself of chocolate, candy, cookies, etc. On an average day, I eat my favorite foods in moderation (single servings) and most of the time really enjoy my healthy choices, too. I don't eat after 8 pm. I don't snack at my desk at work. And I don't give myself a free pass to eat anything I want because I will work it off later. That is why this author thinks exercise doesn't work. Exercise DOES work, you just have to use your brain along with your muscles!

This is not to say that I don't occasionally get off track! When that happens, when I've eaten half a pan of apple crisp because it has oats and oats are heart healthy and hello! Fruit is good for you!, I usually log my food for the next couple of days so I can monitor when and where I am going astray. I use SparkPeople to track my food. I religiously entered my food intake for a long time, then when I had learned correct portion sizes and what a healthy meal should consist of I felt comfortable stopping. But it comes in handy to identify trouble areas and it's important not to be afraid to take a step back if you need to.

Goals:
This coming week, my goal is to run three days out of the week. And NOT eat my weight in ice cream at the block party on Saturday!

Pink Quilt update

Here are some more blocks for the PINK quilt I am making for the new family in the neighborhood! I apologize, they look exactly like the last update because, well, they are all the same strippy pattern and all the fabrics are VERY pink. But that's the point!

A BIG thank you to Sheree of Sheree's Alchemy who sent me pink fabric for this project! I have never made a quilt this big and it is taking a LOT of fabric! And this pattern requires a good variety of prints as well, so thank you to EVERYONE who has helped me build my bin of pink strips, I think I will have enough!