Begging for Help!!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Chicago 2009

Well here we are again! It has been a little over 2 years since I first became involved with the Breast Cancer 3-Day and I am doing it again! This will be my 3rd 3 day. It had to be 3 AT LEAST! What an amazing ride it has been. So much has changed about me since that day in February 2007 when Dusty emailed us and asked us if we wanted to do this with her. You wouldn’t even know that girl anymore!

This year Dusty and I will be doing the Chicago 3-day. I don’t know how I did it, but during the walk last year I convinced Dusty to do another one even thought she said she wouldn’t J. It is just too great of an experience to not think about doing it again! You just learn so much about yourself and the human race. Communities really do RALLY and it is so awesome to be a part of the energy. If you ever have the opportunity to participate or volunteer…DO IT!

I know that this year it will be harder than EVER to raise this money! Not only are people having to tighten their belts but our goal has been raised from $2200 to $2300. So now more than ever I am asking for your help. I can’t do this without the love and financial support of my family and friends.

Why do I walk? I walk for Elizabeth and Dawn, two of the people in my life that have been affected by this disease. Dawn actually lives near Chicago and I am hoping somehow that I can talk her into doing it with me. If not, I know that she will be there to support me and cheer me on. I went to the Chicago 3-Day last year on the way to my 3-Day in Boston to support a friend and Dawn was able to join me for the closing ceremonies! I don’t know if she knew how much it meant to me for her to be there with me, but it was an amazing experience! Elizabeth has had a trying year but I know that she will pull through and come out on the other side of this stronger than ever! And for any woman who has ever had to or ever will have to go through this horrible disease-- I WALK FOR YOU!

On top of training for the 3-Day I have also signed up for my first Triathlon in June. So there is no doubt in my mind that I will be in great condition by the time I get off that plane in Chicago! No shin splints for me!

Thank you for your continued support and thanks for being a part of my life!

With love,

Janna


My Website: http://www.the3day.org/goto/jannachicago09


If you know anyone that would be interested in helping us reach our goal please forward this letter on!

40 days!

So I have to be honest, I have never really known much about Lent and why people participate in it. I only know that most of my catholic friends observe it and it makes the fish come out on Friday. So I went to my trusty friend Google and learned more about it!

• 40 day long season of fasting and prayer before Easter
• 40 days represents the time Jesus spent in the desert, where according to the Bible he endured temptation by Satan.
• The purpose of Lent is to prepare the believer through prayer, penitence, and self-denial
• Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday
• The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the 40 days

So although I am not catholic, I have been thinking about participating in Lent this year. But I am going to put a spin on it. I am going to give something up but I am also going to participate in something for 40 days!

I am giving up Chocolate…in candy bar form. This has become my arch enemy lately and what better way to stop it!

And as for what I will do for 40 days…I WILL exercise EVERYDAY! I am even going as far as to say…AT LEAST 30 minutes a day. I have become INCREDIBLY lazy this past month or so and it is HIGH time I get off my duff and do something about it!

My goal for these 40 days is to learn something’s about myself…what ? I don’t know yet! But as I learn…I will try and share!

Anyone want to join me or help hold me accountable?

BTW…this starts Wednesday! That gives me 2 days to get my new place in order and my old place wrapped up so that I can concentrate on getting back in shape!!

The Maisy Report Giveaway

Check out this blog

http://themaisyreport.blogspot.com/

...she is giving away a $50 gift card to the store of your choice!

And I LOVE the Adele song she has on her blog too!!

Numbers...

I have learned in the last two years that I am a numbers kind of gal...so here are a few numbers to tide you over until the end of the day!

21 Months

647 Days

92 Weeks

02/19/09-the day I hit a MAJOR milestone!

101-the pounds I have lost with WW.

137.6- the number of pounds I have lost over overall.

7.4- the number of pounds until I reach lifetime with WW!

12.4- the number of pounds I have to go until I have lost HALF of me!

8-The size I am starting to get to look at!

12:15-the time my WW meeting starts and I can celebrate!

3-the number of GREAT friends that are coming to celebrate with me today!



Today...it is all about the numbers...Tomorrow...back to reality!

Well Saturday will be about the numbers too...because I am going to another WW meeting to celebrate with a couple of the gals I posted about last week! I can't WAIT to see them!

OH HAPPY DAY!!

~J

I AM IN LOVE!

Who knew a website could excite a girl so much. A GREAT friend of my WW message boards told us about this website that she had decided to use. She needed a “points” break for awhile so that she could see the scale move in the right direction again. Now…if you know me…I PUFFY HEART WW! It has changed my life and I don’t for one second doubt the “points” system. Look how far it has gotten me!

Now that isn’t to say that lately I have wondered about other aspects of my weight loss journey. I had actually considered keeping track of the calories of the foods that I eat everyday on top of keeping track of my points. This website makes it SO easy!

www.myfitnesspal.com



When you start you put in your birthday, your height, your current weight, your goal, how many times a week and for how long you will exercise, and how many pounds a week you would like to lose. (Keep in mind that it ONLY goes up to 2 pounds per week.) Then it gives you a daily caloric goal and a weekly goal for calories burned on exercise. It even goes as far as telling you by a certain date you will lose “X” pounds.

So I started yesterday and put in all my foods that I ate for the day…every bite! It was interesting to see that if I am following my WW plan that I get pretty darn close to what this site wants me to eat as well. I really enjoyed seeing how many calories, carbs, fat grams, protein, fibers and sugars I was getting in. It was very eye opening.

I am also pleased to say that I do really well! It is good to know that I am doing it the right way. At the end of the day you click a button to say you are done entering for the day and it gives you a pretty summary. It also tells you if you continue to have days like today you should be at “X” by “X”. How cool is that?
I am all about using tools and resources to get to where I need to be. Educating myself is KEY to continuing on with my journey!

Go check it out!

***On a side note…I hope that being a good girl this week rewards me with a 100 tomorrow when I weigh-in…but if it doesn’t…there is always next week!***

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!

2 to 100

One of my “goals” was to weigh in every week NO MATTER what. That worked amazingly well for me in the beginning of my journey and I had started to deviate away from that because I didn’t like what the scale was saying. Why didn’t I like it? Because I wasn’t doing what I needed to do to get to where I need to be!

Recently I have FINALLY found a meeting that I love again. I had quit going to my Tuesday morning meeting because my leader had hurt my feelings and I couldn’t get over it. That and I think I needed a change of scenery. I was tired of hearing the same meeting every week. No matter what the topic was it was like a CD had been put in and play had been pressed.

I REALLY REALLY miss the women that I had become friends with. The good news is I have most of their emails and we keep in touch. But for awhile now I have felt a little lost when it comes to the meetings. I liked that those women had known how far I had come and I liked knowing how far they had come. We knew each other’s stories and we could celebrate each other’s successes. So it has been an adjustment to walk into meetings and not know anyone.

In the past couple of weeks I have celebrated with new folks. I watched last week as someone hit their lifetime goal. She had lost 125 pounds with WW and reached her goal. As I sat in the back I had tears in my eyes as she discussed what it took to get her there. She was singing my song! I am looking forward to the day that I get to stand in front of the room and celebrate hitting goal. I know I will cry…and I can’t wait to do it! Every day I get a little bit closer to being there.

So for the past month or so I have been going to the Thursday lunch meeting and then going back on Saturday morning to weigh in. I have always had this mental block about weighing in first thing in the morning before I eat or drink anything. I also have a weigh in dress that I wear. That is another reason I liked my Tuesday meeting. They all knew that I was nuts and had to wear this dress to get on the scale. I go in, change, weigh in and then change back into my normal clothes. I know I am NUTS…I really do know but I like to know that it is what I did and not what I wore that affected the scale. It gives me a sense of peace…silly but it does!

This morning I went to weigh in and decided to stay. One of the ladies from Tuesday had made this Saturday morning meeting her new one and I was hoping against hope that she would be there. She wasn’t there this morning and I was sad about that but very glad that I decided to stay. Even though I had just been to the Thursday meeting I heard things that I needed to hear from a different perspective. The leader was great! I didn’t even catch her name but I really enjoyed the meeting.

As for the results of weigh in…I couldn’t be more excited. I have been in a self induced “stuck” for 2 months now. Playing with the same couple of pounds over and over again. Well that ended this week. I don’t know what happened but something finally clicked again and I am once again ready to get to the finish line. Although I know that I will never be “finished,” I am ready to celebrate and move on to another phase in my life!

Here are the numbers:
To date 02/14/09:
Pounds lost on WW: 98
Pounds lost overall: 134.6
Pounds to Goal Weight: 10.4
Sizes Change: From 26/28 to 10/12
Next Mini Goal: 100 pounds by the end of February

There you have it…my goal for the rest of this month is 2 pounds. This is completely doable if I stay focused and on track!

Thanks for being a part of my journey!!

Happy LOVE YOUR PEEPS DAY!

New Place!

I have been a bad bad blogging girl. Sorry for the delay between posts…

A lot has been going on these past couple of weeks. 2 weeks ago today I got the keys to my new apartment. I was excited for the change of scenery and the WAY shorter drive to work, the boyfriend’s place, and other cool Austin hotspots. All around a good move…in theory! I have quickly learned that moving inside the city limits is going to be more expensive all around. My rent stayed about the same…that is good. My cable bill actually went down a bit because of some deal that the apartment complex has worked out with the cable company. My water bill will triple! Who knows how my electric bill will go…I am hoping DOWN! And now there are no more tolls on the toll road unless I am going to visit friends!

So I have been taking my time moving somewhat slowly because I have a month to move…this is a good thing! I busted my butt and moved EVERYTHING I could move by myself. The brother and sister-in-law helped me move the furniture so I have all the essentials moved in!

So we are sitting on the couch last week and I look at J and ask him…”can you smell that?” We both agreed it didn’t smell very good…kind of like a present left by Fido. That is right folks…after the nice clean smell of a freshly cleaned apartment wore off…and we were left with the real truth! The carpet was completely covered in dog urine…everywhere you turned…it was THERE! It came out all bright and shiny when the apartment complex sent the carpet cleaners over without coming to check it out for themselves first. Not a good move! It brought everything to the surface…the stains and smells included! I didn’t have to get into it all that much with them to get them to understand the ONLY solution was new carpet. So Wednesday I had everything off the floors and they came and installed new carpet throughout the entire apartment. SO I have bright and shiny…never been used by anyone but me, carpet! It is so nice to know that it isn’t gross anymore!

So I have been moving, removing, moving and rearranging furniture and belongings for the better part of two weeks…good thing I have a month! I still have some stuff left at the old place, mostly things I want to sell and get rid off. So hopefully this weekend I will make it by there to get the decorations off the walls so I can start on making my new place home!

Anyone want to come help me decorate? PLEASE? :)
Be back with more soon!


Oh yeah...I have a new mailing address and I will be sending out something soon to update everyone!

Mamarazzi's Favorite Thing's Swap!

So I have never done this...but it sounds like SO much fun! Who WOULDN'T love to get a package of cool stuff and maybe make a new friend or two?

Mamarazzi's Favorite Thing's Swap! It's happening over at Dandelion Wishes. So head to her blog and read the rules and sign up!!!

Valentine's Day

If anyone in the Greater Austin Area needs any help with Valentine's Day...or just flowers in general this is the place!

My Next Adventure...

Well it is set in stone as of yesterday. I will be attempting my first Triathlon on June 7th! That is RIGHT…I said Triathlon! Who knew? I am VERY excited/nervous about this endeavor. I can’t wait to get to the training part. By now I shouldn’t need a challenge to get off my butt…but apparently that is what it is going to take!

Back in 2004 I did my first unofficial tri. It was the Woman’s Adventure Race. If memory serves correct it was 3 mile “run”, ¼ mile swim, and 8ish miles on the bike, with all kinds of fun games thrown in for you and your partner to complete. Back then it was a miracle that we finished, but it was also one of the proudest moments of my life TO FINISH! That was probably the hardest event I have EVER done in my life, but it changed my life forever! Misty and I finished dead last with every race participant, their friends and families cheering us on at the finish line. Talk about embarrassing and emotional. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

Now I figure if I can do that back then at my heaviest then I can add a little more to the distances and I should have NO problem!

A little info on the Danskin:

The Danskin triathlon is a multi-sport sprinting event combining .5 miles swimming, 12.5 miles biking, and 3.1 miles running, in that order. If you figure a person in fairly good shape might be able to swim .5 miles in 15 minutes, bike 12.5 miles in 50 minutes, and run 3.1 miles in 25 minutes, with two transitions at 3 minutes each, then total time might take roughly 90 minutes. Elite triathletes might cross the finish line in just over an hour; newcomers might spend 2-3 hours or more. The goals of your very first triathlon should be to 1) finish, even if that means doing a doggie paddle, moderate bike ride, and jog; 2) find out what it's like, and 3) have FUN.

I can’t WAIT! Not only for the training but for the event itself. A big huge group of us will all be doing it together. Not together the entire time…but we will all be there to cheer each other on to the finish. The best part for me…on top of having all 3 “sisters” and the girls from Dallas there, is that my friends Autumn and LuAnn will be doing it! They have NEVER done anything like this and I am so excited to share all of this with them! They are going to LOVE IT!
So here we go…this year is shaping up to be a very active year!

Anyone else want to join us?