Final Win, Lose or Blog Stats

The Win, Lose or Blog competition ended this week and I came in 5th out of 8th.  I lost 6lbs which translates to 2.8% weight loss.  I also lost 1.5" off my chest, 1" from my waist, 1.5" from my lower pooch, 1" from my hips and 0.5" from my thighs.  Considering how sick I got with tonsillitis and busy with teaching at 2 universities and organizing a conference, I feel really good about these numbers.  Actually, I'm most proud of the fact that now Old Navy XXL blouses are way too big for me.  Wahoo!

So I press on...I have 27 more pounds to lose so I will keep plugging away with diet and exercise.  Yesterday, I had a bout with sour stomach brought on from indulging in too much fast food.  So I'll take that as a sign and try to steer clear of that stuff. 

 

Opps, I Did It Again *Sigh*

....I don't think I will ever learn at the rate I'm going.  I had another ridiculous stupid money month in February where I've spent $254 on dining out (this doesn't include our joint grocery budget).  The problems started in January when someone was able to charge $1200 in new smartphones onto my debit card while I was in Europe.  I had the card with me so it came as a total shock when I looked at my checking account balance.  Fortunately, my credit union gave me a temporary credit so I could pay my bills.  Cool. But I'm an idiot who likes to tempt fate and I dipped into the money once Amazon credited my account.  Idiot, I know....I was short $400 and had to take an advance on my payroll saving account to cover the cost.

Fortunately, the interest rate is negligible but I do have to pay the full amount back at the end of February.  D'oh! To complicate things, I still have 3 checks out which haven't been paid and again I dipped into that money. Shit! I had to take yet another advance to cover those checks and tomorrow is my husband's birthday and he usually gets shafted b/c I can't seem to manage my money through the end of the month. Luckily, I got paid today from my side hustle. Whew!

Now I'm able to pay off all the bills, buy my momma a gift for her birthday (also in February), celebrate DH's birthday without handing him a card with an IOU note inside and put $300 toward my credit card bills (this in addition to the minimums I pay each month).  But this leaves only $50 of "play money" for March.  Why do I keep doing this to myself?

I am determined to get a handle on this "non-budgeted" spending if it kills me.  I'm already planning to sell some stuff to raise funds but I need to stop eating out so much esp. since I grocery shop and cook pretty regularly.  I found myself ravenous this AM when I was getting our living room ready for the arrival of new furniture.  It wasn't like we didn't have food....I was just too lazy to prepare it. But the $254 is imprinted into my brain and I scrambled to find a way to buy something quick.  Luckily, my husband had just given me a $10 Subway Card.  Wahoo!  Since they are having a $5 footlong sandwich promotion, I got a 12" sandwich which I had for 2 meals (breakfast and lunch).  I already had some pork chops thawing so guess what's for dinner?

After DH's birthday dinner tomorrow (which I have budgeted for), it will be brown bag lunches - chili, stews, salads, casseroles.  I honestly don't have a choice if I want to ever get out of debt. Urgh! I hate that I'm back at the drawing board.

Weight Loss Update

I got back on the weight loss wagon upon my return from vacation with a goal of getting out of the "obese" category for 2011.  This means I need to lose 28 pounds.  To make sure I got off to a good start, I applied to be a contestant on Win, Lose or Blog which is a seven-week weight loss competition where the contestants must blog their experience.  Two weeks in, I'm down 5lbs.  Go, me!!!  I'm not winning the competition nor do I really care if I win....I just know that blogging about my weight loss ups and downs is helping me deal with my emotional eating, develop new habits and stay motivated. You can check out my blog at http://winloseorblog-donna.blogspot.com/

I'm following the new Weight Watchers Points Plus program and I absolutely love it.  I'm eating more fruits and veggies than ever before and also keeping my starchy carb intake in check.  I'm also loving Zumba for Wii because I'm having a blast and sweatin' like a 'ho in church.  I am still doing my FIRM DVDs and recently purchased their newest system called the FIRM Express Set (though I'm waiting and waiting for their customer service reps to get my damn order right).

My first Non-Scale Victory (NSV) was fitting comfortably back into my Old Navy "Flirt" Mid-Rise Skinny Jeans without having my stomach bulge out so far that it looked like a booty.  I bought these jeans for our trip to England and by the end of the trip, they were cutting off the circulation in my belly and thighs.  Not anymore...dropping 5lbs is already making a difference. 

Me and the Hubbs are planning a trip to Florida in late March/early April and I'd like to be down another 15lbs by then. But more importantly, I'd like to be back into a size 14 blouse/12 bottom (I'm top heavy) because I have a bunch of clothes in those sizes that I haven't worn since 2003.

Next update in 2 mo' weeks....

The Eternal Skeptic Goes Life-Mapping

I'm skeptical by nature. Add to the fact that I'm an academic and you can see why things like "personal coaching" and "manifesting your destiny" type of books and workshops never really held much appeal for me.  But I recently came across a blog called http://www.happyblackwoman.com in which a young African American woman hosts web seminars and blogs focused on career and personal coaching.  Ever the skeptic I am I thought, "I don't need this.  I'm grown with multiple degrees, a good job, a husband and a house."  But when the blog owner offered a free Life Map exercise, I downloaded the booklet and wow, did it open my eyes.  I never realized how little I paid attention to goal-setting, planning and organization.  But after doing the exercises, it made me look over my own blog posts to see how much of a mess my finances were in, for instance.  I then realized that even though I'm a 30-something, educated professional woman with a husband and house, I still needed to bring focus to my goals and that I shouldn't stop dreaming.

The Life Map places "You" at the center and there are seven categories in which you need to develop an "ultimate" goal for each area.  The categories include: Relationships (Intimate or with Friends), Family, Work, Education, Finances, Health and Lifestyle.  Since I'm a college professor trying to get tenure, I've focused almost 70% of my time to work and have neglected other areas which are in desperate need of attention. Once I returned home from vacation, my first order of business was to develop my life map because I needed to bring focus and intentionality to what I was doing. Spending so much time on work was taking a toll on my relationship with my husband, my weight ballooned, spent too much money on fast food and ways to escape and basically was living life on default.  So here's what I've come up with:

• Relationships: (1) Show more gratitude to my husband for the "heavy lifting" he does to keep our relationship strong and (2) Do a better job of keeping up with the household chores as this is a bone of contention in our relationship.
• Work: (1) Stop procrastinating with grading because it affects your stress levels and interrupts your research (2) Engage in more service to the profession (i.e. pursue a committee member position for one of your professional organizations (3) Develop and stick to a research/writing schedule
• Family: (1) Call or send hand-written letters to key family members (2) Forgive (but don't forget) grandparents and go visit them.
• Education: (1) Enroll in sewing and creative writing classes for personal enjoyment.
• Health: (1) Achieve a healthy weight so I can (2) become pregnant with no complications.
• Finances: (1) Pay off credit card and student loan debt (Live Debt-Free)
• Lifestyle: (1) Travel and (2) Stay Active with Sorority

I am fortunate that I'm happily married and in a career that I love. I realize, however, that what's been holding my happiness back is my lack of organization and my procrastination tendencies. What this life-mapping exercise is allowing me to do is to focus on things that are important to me and if something comes up that takes my energy away from my goals, reviewing my Life Map can help me ditch that which doesn't work.  I'm tired of having end of the semester meltdowns, losing and gaining the same 10-15lbs, and paying interest on credit cards.  I'm not saying I plan to achieve all of my goals in 2011 but Life Map is helping me getting the ball rolling.

I honestly started to get down a bit because I thought I had to surrender to the routine of going to work, paying bills and keeping a clean house.  What I realize now is that if I get organized, I can do all of those things plus the stuff that brings me joy. Maybe this life coaching stuff isn't a bunch of gimmicky hocus-pocus....We'll see :)

Achieving Goals By Raising the Stakes

I used to say that I was "extrinsically motivated" when it came to my diet and exercise goals.  I used to focus on looking good by using an important event as my primary source of motivation.  But over the years and being happily married, the need to look good around others became less important and hitting targets fell by the wayside.  I suppose I've gotten used to not honoring my self-promises because I would set unrealistic goals AND I didn't have something to help sustain my motivation over the long-haul.  So I was intrigued to discover a new goal setting site called Stickk.com in which users set-up Commitment Contracts.  But this isn't your run of the mill written contract that you make with yourself and forget about it the next week.  At Stickk.com, your commitment contract carries a financial penalty for not achieving your goals.  This website was created by economists who realized that when people put their own money or reputation on the line, they are more apt to follow through with their plans. 

At Stickk, you give your money to either their charity or 'anti-charity' of your choice.  You also designate a relative or friend to be your "referee" to monitor your progress and keep you honest.  There is also an option to select which people you want to have access to your goal progress so they can serve as your very own cheerleaders.  For me, the idea of giving money to an "anti-chairty" intrigues me the most...Say my anti-charity was the Sarah Palin Political Action Committee, I would do my damnedest to make sure I didn't have to get that woman a single dollar of my money. 

I'm realizing that I need to avail myself to every tool available so that I can finally drop this weight and get into shape. Obviously, shaping up for "bikini season" wasn't working but the thought of giving the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin any of my money would keep me up all night dreaming about hopping on the treadmill in the next morning. Time for me to put up or pay up.

I'm Back....And Living Just Enough for Vacation

 2005: Me on a bridge over the Thames River in London (with Big Ben in the Background)

For a few weeks, I've been contemplating reviving my blog as I finally can see the forest from the trees.  I have been extremely busy as always. What college professor trying to get tenure isn't busy?  But because I work full-time at one university, adjunct teach at another and try to stay somewhat active with my sorority, I'm swamped.  Add to it, being married and maintaining a home and you get the drift. 

I finally came to terms with the fact that until I do get tenure, the notion of "balance" is an esoteric dream for me.  Getting tenure not only saves my job but also ensures free college tuition for our yet-to-be-conceived-children and my husband won't leave me for a younger richer model :)  All jokes aside, for the next 3 years, balance ain't happening.  But for the first time since 2008, the hubster and I are going on vacation in a little over a week to England.  We are spending Christmas and New Year's with relatives and friends and will freeze our asses off.  But we're very excited because at least we get the heck out of here. 

We bought a home in January 2009 and then I experienced a 10% salary cut due to state furloughs so a vacation was the last thing on our list. But after we took down our artificial Christmas tree last year, my husband said to me, "I don't care what we have to do but we have to go on vacation next year." So I worked extra gigs, paid off my car and saved up money for our tickets. And honestly, the other thing that has helped me endure craziness at work, article deadlines, grading papers and so forth has been this trip.  For the next 21 days, I'm not going to worry about work, bills, my nosy neighbors, or how much wine I drink goes straight to my belly. 

When we get back home in January, I'm going back to Weight Watchers meetings, resuming my interval run program, donating unused clothes to charity and finally catching up with a massive paper shred project.  But for now, all I can focus on is Ribena (black currant juice), fish and chips, the British Museum and trying to stay warm.

I'm back with dumb choices

After the end of the semester, I figured things would slow down for me and in a way there have but mostly they haven't.  But I don't want this blog to descend into a total abyss of neglect so let's first recap what's been happening with my "Dirty 30's" life.

1. Somehow I got saddled with coordinating our department's graduation reception, printing the graduation programs, writing and delivering the commencement address.  Basically, I did everything and when I got home, I was beat.  To make matters worse, my mentally ill uncle shows up at my house uninvited.
2. I stupidly accepted 3 teaching assignments over the summer and an advising gig. Money was the motivator but damn if I'm not swamped.
3. I have an article deadline of August 15th and I haven't even begun the initial research. Eeek!
4. To get out of finishing the Couch to 5K program again, I told my husband I was going to do a 30 Day Shred, Zumba, occasional run hybrid rotation for July.  Of course, he's holding me to it even though I've got a bright new shiny box of Turbo Fire workouts to try.
5. Decided to spend the month of July tracking my spending and OMG, no wonder I'm always broke.
6. The tags on my car have expired and I got an extension to get my catalytic converter replaced but I don't want to fork over the money since my husband is giving me his car in January.
7. I'm going nuts being cooped up in this house...but I need to save for our trip to England in December.

So basically, I've never really gotten any rest.  I'm moody, irritable and ready to explode.  I have a spa day planned with some girlfriends on Monday but I really can't justify the expense right now (because I just HAD to get a new set of patio furniture, Turbo Fire, Zumba classes and an Oprah magazine on bargain hunting [WTF?] but forgot to pay my Citibank bill). I also had plans to go to my sorority convention but even that is looking dicey now....

Dabnabbit.

I would like to say that being in the Dirty Thirties was hard because of what life throws at you but I'm coming to realize, my life is hard because I make a lot of dumb ass choices.