Hi Sue. Thanks for the welcome back! LOL @ the CC trendsetter thing. Yup, I alternate CC with music on my ipod. Ipod is the greatest invention known to exercisers IMO. LOL. It gets me through a lot of cardio minutes.
Long and short of it is this........I broke up with my bf of 3 years which you might remember. That didn't depress me, but it did kind of make me just say "screw it" with the weight control. Then I was really depressed because I wanted to sell my house and it didn't sell and I took it off the market. Then I had a terrible falling out with my (now ex) best friend. You may remember she was my realtor, as well as DS's GF's mom. She decided I wasn't a friend worth having when I decided to take my house off the market!) I stopped exercising completely and started eating a lot out of boredom. I am still single and enjoying it actually, but I gained almost 60 lbs. and got up to a size 16. Soooo embarassing to say that!!
I finally weighed myself and the next day started on the South Beach plan. I did great on Atkins but it was too restrictive for me to do again. I am not as strictly on the SB plan, but use it as my guideline for eating for the most part. Lower fat, lower carbs...lower everything. And voila, that and the exercise are working. I am down 30.5 pounds in less than TEN weeks and to a size 12. I am loving my workouts now. I joined a gym because I wasn't using my equipment at home and I got a friend to join with me, so that was such a benefit.
I finally did sell my house - I painted almost the whole interior and got some new carpeting. I put it back on the market March 07 and it sold in NINE days for just $900 under my asking price. I was ecstatic. I bought a great condo just a mile from my house which was wonderful because I didn't want to move out of my town. It's a 3 br, 2 bath condo on one floor that is 1,878 square feet. I love it. The only downside is it's an upper level, which means I do have a great 2 car attached garage, but no basement. So no home gym. I have a huge master closet, 7 x 12, and I have my treadmill in there. I have my elliptical machine and stationary bike in the garage, but it seems it's either too hot or too cold to go down there, so I still wasn't doing much. Thus the gym.
When I can find time, I've been doing a little yoga at home. It's not easy because I go to the gym almost every day, plus I walk my dog. Another part of my depression story---I had to get rid of my beloved puppy Mace because he and my younger son (autistic one) didn't get along. But we now have a nice calm dog that is almost 4 years old and they are great together. So between the walking and the gym, I haven't done much at home at all. I have all of my dvds of course, and when my older son goes to college I'm going to make some room in his bedroom for some workout area. It won't be huge, but his room is designed as a "media room" and is 12 x 22 so I can make enough to at least do abs and pilates/yoga and probably even Turbo Jam. I would love to be able to do step there (my gym only has a few classes) since I really miss it, but I'm not sure if there will be room yet.
My gym............boy talk about a basic gym! No frills, for sure. It's got the cardio equipment (treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, and stair stepper thingys), plus free weights and some hydraulic machines. It does have a locker room, shower, and sauna, which is nice, but I've never used any of them. It's 2 minutes from my house so I just shower at home, and I never have time for the sauna since I got during the day and only want to take an hour for "lunch". The best part just happened today--the owner offered to trade my bookkeeping services for a free membership! I said yes without blinking lol.
They have classes on Tue and Thur night, but again, I go during the day and I either have the boys at night or am too tired by the time 6:30 rolls around. One thing I just found out is they have a yoga class on Sunday morning---I'll be there this Sunday to check it out.
Let's see, what else....oh the boys. They are both doing well! Travis (15) is still at Lakeland School, the school for special ed students only. He has emerged in his classroom as a leader, which is just fantastic for him. He is doing great with our new dog. Sammy (Samantha) is a fabulous, perfect dog. She stays by us when we're outside and listens well, doesn't try to steal food, totally housebroken, and doesn't chew up anything. She doesn't even need a kennel. My friend and her husband are getting divorced. They had 3 dogs and her ex is now working 2 jobs and needed a home for her, so I said I'd take her on a trial basis, not knowing how Travis would be. They hit it off right away. Sammy is fun and likes to play, but she also listens when you say to stop and that is the key. Mace was a puppy and so wound up all the time; it just agitated Travis. Plus Trav is 2 years older and is in better control of himeself now.
Taylor is doing great. I'm sad though, senior year of high school aleady!! We think he's going to end up at Carroll College. We all fell in love with it when we visited. He's applied to a couple of other schools, but I think it will be Carroll, as long as we can get the costs down where they claim we will. He's already met with the baseball coach there and was invited to go to a camp in December. He's excited. And so am I! I asked if it's okay if I go to games once he's in college and he just said "Well, duh". I guess that meant yes.
He is still with the same girlfriend-over 2 years now! Her mom and I patched things up just enough to be decent to each other when we have to be together. It works.
That's about it in a nutshell. Well, in a novel. Ha ha. I am happy and getting healthier and things are going very well right now. I am still working from home for the same CPA and it's just as stressful as usual. But I'm happy.
I can't wait to get updated on all of YOU guys now!
Jill
