Luvtlee

My current main goal is to get to 173 lbs.  and then I plan on maintaining that for about six months or so and then I will reassess my situation and choose a new goal from there.  Probably somewhere around 140-150 lbs., and that will be my ultimate goal.  I set my mini goals at a 10% increment, and the last time I did this I started out weighing 338 lbs. so my increments were set at every 34 lbs.  Now that I’ve in a sense started over at 248, my new main goal is to get to 173 by February 1, 2009.  I’ve set my mini goals at every 25 lbs.  First mini goal will be reached fairly soon, I hope, at 223 lbs.  Second mini goal is going to be set at 198 lbs.  and boy, let me tell you!!!!  To get under 200 lbs. is going to be utterly fabulous!!!  I’ve not been under 200 lbs. in literally 16 years.  That is a day I am going to celebrate BIG.  Dunno how just yet, but it will be HUGE!!!  Third mini goal is going to actually be my main goal, to get to 173 lbs.  Haven’t weighed that little in 18 years…but I AM going to weigh that by February 1, 2009.

I use a program called Fitday that I have downloaded to my computer and I can input information into it and it spews all sorts of things back out at me.  One of the things it shows me is how many pounds per week I need to lose to get to my main goal weight, and what my calorie restriction needs to be to get there.  This time around, it shows me that I have 75 lbs. to lose in 28 weeks and in order to do that I need to lose 2.69 lbs. a week.  I need to have a calorie restriction of 1,346 a day.  According to Fitday, a person my weight and height burns 2,826 calories a day just existing.  So, I need to eat 1,480 calories a day to lose that 2.69 lbs. a week.  I’ve been eating between 1,200-1,500 daily so that I can stay within that boundary.

Because it’s easier to lose weight in the beginning of a program, I am ahead of schedule by about 7 lbs.  My starting weight on 7/21/08 was 248 lbs., my current weight (I only weigh officially on Sundays) is 232 lbs.  That is a total of 16 pounds, which averages to 5.6 lbs a week.   I hope to be able to maintain the bigger numbers as long as I can, just so that will help me later on down the road with my average.  It seems like a lot to have to lose in the period of time I’ve set for myself, but I know from previous experience that I CAN DO THIS.  Last time, I lost 100 lbs. in the same time period.  No reason I can’t lose 75 now.

One thing that I have been pretty pleased about so far, too, is that I’m not getting any saggy skin.  Everything seems to be shrinking up nicely.  I remember back at 338 lbs, my tummy used to kind of lay on the top of my thighs (disgusting, I know).  It no longer does, even though it’s still a big ol’ tummy.  Anyway, I believe it is the amount of exercise that I’m doing that is firming it up and that is why I’ve not got anything sagging all jiggly like.  I pray it continues to go so well.

I’m excited for my end goal, it is going to be beyond cool when I pick my husband up when he arrives back in the States from Iraq in mid February.  Seriously.  But, I am looking forward to the process too.  I believe that we’ve got to be happy where we’re at, because the battle for weight loss is at least 90% mental.

Which leads me to how I’m going to get there.  How I’m going to do all of this.  By sticking to my program, and using my discipline and determination to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up!

OMG you guys!!!  Did I tell you I’m going to Blizzcon?!?!?!?!

Yep…STILL dancing!  hehe  Hurry up and get here October!!!

I don’t know if that means much to anyone here, but that is like a super big deal in the video gaming world.  It’s an annual convention held in Anaheim each year by the gaming company, Blizzard.  They’re famous for making the Diablo games, Starcraft games, Warcraft games, and the ever popular World of Warcraft game.  I’ve played and loved all of their games, but World of Warcraft is by far my favorite.  I’ve been playing since January 05′ and am highly addicted.  My kids all play it too, my youngest (who just happened to turn 7 yesterday) doesn’t really play it, but he loves his character in the game…it’s cute.  My daughter doesn’t play too often, she isn’t into it as much as me and my other two sons.  This is the third Blizzcon and our first time being able to attend.  We couldn’t be more excited!  The year before last I didn’t know about it until it was too late.  Last year my husband tried to buy me tickets as a birthday present but they sold out on the third day.  Blizzard has only gotten more popular over the past year and we knew that the tickets were going to go fast this time, so we jumped on it the second they went on sale and I got a ticket for me, my 15 year old son, my 12 year old son…and I was also able to get two tickets for my friend and his daughter who will be going.  They sold a total of 12,000 tickets in just under three hours of the site atually working.  There were a lot of problems with the site selling the tickets because it kept getting clogged up from the heavy traffic of people trying to buy their tickets…it was by no means an easy task to get ahold of them…but I won’t get into all the grity details.  Suffice it to say, I got our tickets and WE’RE GOING TO BLIZZCON 08′!!!!!

OMG you guys!!!!  I am so dang excited, you have no idea!!!!  The convention is on October 10th and 11th and I’ve booked a hotel room for us that is only a half mile away from the Anaheim convention center and we ARE GOING!!!!

Got back from kickboxing, took my shower and emailed my hubby.  Am now sitting here kind of bored before heading to bed in a few.   Thought I’d find some funny weight loss cartoons to share…..

Okay, so they weren’t all related to weight loss after all lol.  But I really like them and wanted to keep them here where I can look at em’ when I want to.  I’m not done browsing the net for “weight loss funnies”, but am going to head to bed now.  Getting hungry and it’s far too late to be snacking.

Have a great one buddies!

I hope that you all get a kick out of these like I did….

How do crazy people go through the forest?

They take the psycho path.

Therapy is expensive, popping bubble wrap is cheap!

 I Do Whatever My
Rice Krispies
Tell Me To

People who claim that computers will make life easier for us have obviously never used one.

Light travels faster than sound.
This is why
some
people
appear bright
until
you hear
what they
have to say.

Fun Things to do at a
Therapist’s Office



1.Ask to borrow a comb, comb your tongue.
2.Take random objects in his office and glue them to the floor.
3.Refuse to cooperate unless he trades his pants.
4.Bring pots and pans. Bang them together when he asks a question you don’t like.
5.After everything he says, say, “And how does that make you feel?”
6.Point at random things and say, “Where did you get that?”
7.Complain that his chair looks more comfortable.
8.Repeat over and over, “I’m not hanging out with a bad influence, I AM a bad influence!”
9.Sit underneath your chair.
10.Stand on your head.
11.Kill spiders on the wall with your fist. Eat what sticks to your hand and leave the rest sticking to the wall. Draw a circle
around it to make sure everyone sees it.
12.Never stop smiling.
13.Scream every word.
14.Repeatedly tell him to look at the ceiling. When he finally does, repeatedly tell him to look at the chair. When he finally
does, repeatedly tell him to look at the desk, etc…
15.Put your shoes on the wrong feet.
16.Try to seduce him with chocolate donuts.
17.Try to talk him into sitting on the floor.
18.Tell him Matlock is the key to all your problems.
19.Eat his books.
20.Talk to his leg.
21.Don’t face him when he talks to you.
22.Talk really slowly.
23.Try to eat your hand.
24. If he offers you coffee, ask him to spill it on your lap.
25.Make sure you make butt-prints in his couch.
26.Pretend you hear music.
27.Tell him you think his secretary is really a man.
28.Pretend to drink.
29.Offer him an imaginary cookie.  

Sometimes it helps me to just remember that some people are just

and we all need a good laugh from time to time.

Take care and God bless!

WOOHOO!!!  I’m dancing with excitement!

Another three pounds have gone away…let’s hope this time for good!  lol

I’m going to work my butt of over the next two days to try and have another good show for my weigh in at the dojo on Wednesday.  So far my weigh in for that is showing me at 12 lbs. gone.  Our last weigh in is August 29th and I want to get as close to the 30 lb. mark (which would put me at 215 lbs.) as is humanely possible without actually starving myself.  Don’t know how close I’m going to, but I think that it should be at least 2o lbs. total, if not the full 30.  I seriously doubt I’ll see the full 30.

It’s been a fairly good weekend.  My daughter and I went grocery shopping earlier and found three female stray dogs in the parking lot.  Got them some cheeseburgers from the Carls Jr. right there.  They were very skittish and obviously starving, it was sad.  One of them clearly has young pups somewhere nearby that she is nursing still.  While we were there feeding and talking with the dogs another lady came by with some dog food.  She said she’s been seeing this particular group around here for the past few weeks and she likes to come and feed them when she can find them.  We want to find the babies before calling Animal Control to come and get them.  I don’t know if Animal Control would look for the babies first, or just take these three away.  We’re not an incorporated town yet and we’ve no Animal Control of our own, so we’d have to call county and I am totally clueless as to how they operate.  I think I’ll call them first thing in the morning when I know someone is there and see what they say.  It’s all I can do.

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend and enjoying the Olympics!

This site is a place where we should all feel free to come and talk about ANYTHING that is on our minds.  A “safe harbor”.  Obviously within certain bounds, of course.  We’d all be seriously offended if some whack job came along and was discussing his or her current take on the many benefits of serial killing and things of that nature.

I love the fact that I can talk about Jesus all I want here.  That His light can shine through me by my showing support and kindness by encouraging all my buddies here, it gives me great joy.  No matter where I go, I am a Christian, even here.  But this is a site to help and encourage each other in our weight loss endeavors.  Not a site for us to judge, ridicule, harass, or otherwise shove our views and opinions on others.  Granted…by virtue of the fact that we are here opening ourselves up we are also opening ourselves up to the few who might feel it is their obligation to force their way of doing things onto us.  It shouldn’t be that way though, and I can honestly say that for me it has only happened to me the one time.  It really hurt to be attacked in such a personal way by someone who is supposed to be a fellow Christian.  I was belittled, condemned and she tried to make me feel that my faith was nothing compared to hers. Christians in general, are never supposed to judge others.  We are supposed to leave that up to God and instead just show our love for others.   Do not judge, or you too will be judged. - Matthew 7:1

I find it funny that she lashed out at others in a mean way, she made it personal by attacking several different people via personal email and now she’s got people defending her saying that we are a “lynch mob” out to get her, as if she is the victim of it all.  What?  We should’ve kept our mouths shut and let her berate us via email as if we are the nasty sinners and should beg her to pray to God to save our souls?  It makes no sense at all. I in particular DID NOTHING wrong.  ALL I DID was support and encourage a buddy here at the site, because that IS what the site is for.

Nothing drives me more mad than the person who causes so much grief to others being made to look like the victim. There is no justice in that. Especially when the apology is said in the manner in which it was said. It reads as if she is an innocent victim and it’s others that have caused this heart ache and pain. That infuriates me.   But, I am going to drop it now, after this blog, and will not discuss it any further.  I know how to use the ignore button and go along my merry way. For the record, I am letting go of all my negative feelings about this situation. Am giving them over to God. But that does NOT mean that I have to leave myself open to even more abuse.

Anyway, I am sick of this entire subject.  It’s beyond stupidity to think it a sin to shower naked among others of your own sex.  If it is a sin, well then there are ALOT of schools, to include Catholic schools, that are sinning by having the kids shower together after PE.  God did not create us to be ashamed of our bodies.  He did give us a sense of modesty about them and that is what keeps the vast majority of us from running down the streets naked, wild and carefree.  Enough said about that subject.

It all boils down to one thing, that everyone should’ve learned long ago from their mothers.  If you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.   I beg of you, if you’ve got nothing but nastiness in your heart, stay away from my blog.  If you read something in someone’s blog that offends you and your way of living, wander off and read someone else’s blog and DON’T send them harrassing emails.  Also, if someone innocently supports that person who offended you (as I did), DON’T send them harrassing emails either.  It’s quite the different thing though if someone sends you harrassing emails…you shouldn’t have to just sit there and take it and if you wanna blog about it, by all means blog about it, because it is YOUR blog after all.

Can someone please tell me something, because I am being attacked by a fellow Christian about this subject.  Is it wrong to shower in the gym with other woman around?  Is it wrong to be naked in front of other women in the locker room?  This woman here at the site is attacking me, implying that I read the wrong bible.  I quote one of her statements to me here,

“Catrina I apologize I thought we all studied the same bible I guess I was wromg.
A. 2. In the Book of Genesis, we read, “And the Lord God made garments of skin for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.” [Gen. 3:21]

She is using this verse to try and tell me that I am wrong in supporting another buddy for feeling good about her weight loss by not freaking out about being naked in the showers/locker room around other women.   The day God condemns us for feeling comfortable in our own skin is the day I don’t know who my Lord Jesus is any more, and I really don’t appreciate this woman for trying to imply that I am any less Christian than her for thinking that this all is okay.  I am not going to name names here because I don’t believe in gossiping about others, but this is just utterly ridiculous.

Yeah, this woman is entitled to her own opinion, and sadly enough, to her own interpretation of God’s word.  But, she had no right to attack me via email through Buddyslim for showing support for one of my buddies.  She should’ve kept her opinion to herself and left me alone.

The funny thing is, I couldn’t ever gather up the courage to shower naked in front of anyone.  But, geesh, a woman CAN shower and be naked around other women in the locker room without feeling as if she is sinning!!!  Oh, and how about those women serving our country overseas in the military who HAVE to shower in an open room with other women showering?  Are they sinning too?

Come on, how ridiculous can you get?

The pics above are from the morning my husband left after a visit from his tour of duty in Iraq.  We got him home from 1-17 July.  Although I don’t count the 17th as having had him home because we had to wake up at 4 am to get him to the airport in San Diego on time for his 6:30 am flight.  We have done this so many times, at so many different bases and airports.  Each of these trips have combined into one long, dark and sad trip in my mind.  I’ve thought about writing a poem about it, gotta title it something cheesy like “The long dark car trip into loneliness”.  This time when he left us again was the hardest ever.   That first weekend having him gone again was like pure torture…I got sick to my stomach, literally, whenever I would think about him.  I missed him so terribly.  He was feeling the same way.  It’s been really, really hard this time around and neither of us can wait for this tour to end.  I still miss him but I no longer get that sick feeling because I’ve gotten back into my separation mode and don’t allow myself to think of my misery without him.

He’s not just my husband, he’s my confidant, my biggest fan & supporter, my hero, my best friend, my lover, my provider (he and God that is), my partner in raising the kids.  He is a man of great integrity and morality, his loyalty knows no bounds; I trust him implicity.  He is a man of great courage and fears nothing; he would protect anyone with his life, whether or not he knows that person.  His favorite bible verse is this:  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. - John 15:13.  It’s why he is a Marine.  He wrote an essay on it in his college English course a few years back.  He truly feels that he is making a difference in the world; he wants to save people from tyranny and injustices.

He always makes me laugh, he can bring a smile to my face in any situation.  He knows me better than any one else (aside of God) and knows at any given time how I am feeling and knows what to do to make me feel better if need be.  He is not in touch with his feminine side, I truly don’t think he has one, but that’s okay with me.  One of the things I love best about him is his manliness.  But he is the kindest, most gentlest, considerate lover.

I love him with everything that I am.  He is my life and all I’ve ever known, all I ever care to know.  So much so that when I first came to Christ I had a really hard time putting Christ first, and I do still struggle with it from time to time.  Although, I have come to learn that it’s not just me and my husband in this relationship, there are three of us here now since we became Christians, and I think that is what has enriched our lives the most these past eight years.  I am so thankful to God for having so richly blessed me in giving Brice to me as a husband.

We’ve been together since we were 14 years old.  Married at 18, had our first child at 20.  The kids and I have followed him wherever he was stationed, never without question nor hesitation.  August 8th is his 20th year anniversary for being in the Corps; and aside of all of the deployments, the Marine Corps has treated us well.  He so very much loves being a Marine, to the point that it has defined him for all these years.  It used to be that he was a Marine first, husband and father second, Christian third.  Over the past two years he’s shifting and becoming a Christian husband and father first, Marine second.   Either way though, being a Marine has always been a huge importance in his life.  He loves it so dearly that the thought of not being one has always been a thought he couldn’t bear to think.  He has been phenomenally successful at it, too.  Started out as an enlisted E-1, went up to an E-6 and then got promoted to Warrant Officer and is currently a Cheif Warrant Officer 4…the highest a Cheif Warrant Officer can currently go is a 5.

Which brings me to the purpose of my post today.  Yeah, I have more purpose other than to brag about the most awesomest man alive!  :oP  It breaks my heart to see him in any sort of pain, physical or emotional.

We are in a dilemma that needs much prayer.  Brice is in the zone for promotion to CWO-5, which is something we’ve both wanted for him.  It comes with a huge pay raise and of course the prestige.  BUT, it comes with limits.  We will be limited on where to go for his next duty station.  We’d be forced to move to Okinawa and at this point in our lives Okinawa is not somewhere we want to go.  If we’d gotten orders there 10 years ago, we’d of gone with no hesitation.  But, our oldest is turning 18 in a couple of months and wants to marry her boyfriend.  How could we leave to move to another country so far away when her new life is just beginning?  We want to be here for her if she needs us for anything.  Plus, we want to be active in her life and that just isn’t possible from so far away.  There are other reasons we don’t want to move to Okinawa.  Brice’s parents are older, in their mid 60’s, and his father’s health isn’t the best.  What if something were to happen and we were so far?  Even if nothing did happen, we want to be able to spend time with them, and time grows short for these sorts of things.  There is also my mom to consider.  She’d likely suffer severe depression if we were to move so far away at this point in our lives.  She needs to get her “Thomas Family fix” every couple of months at least.  There is also our pets to consider.  When you move to Okininawa, bringing pets is a huge deal.  You can only bring two pets, and we have four (two dogs & two cats)…first problem…how to decide which two?    Japan hasn’t had a rabies case since 1957 so the rules are very stringent.  First you have to get your pets microchipped then you need to get them two rabies vaccinations after the microchip, then a FAVN test and even after all of that your pet has to be in a 180 day quarantine.  To start the whole process you have to fill out paperwork and fax it to the port of entry at least 40 days before you move, and from what I hear the whole process can take up to seven months.  It’s just insane.  We do have other pets also.  A guinea pig, three rats, a hamster and some fish.  By the time we had to move the hamster will likely have died of old age.  But the guinea pig and rats will still be around and we love them…what would we do with them?  Of course, if we had to go, well then, we’d have to go….and deal with all of this as it comes.  But, we don’t want to have to deal with it all.  Especially leaving our oldest child to deal with her new life on her own.  So, it is with a very heavy heart that my husband now has to write a letter to the board requesting that they overlook him for promotion.  It is without doubt the hardest thing he’s ever had to do in his career.  He knows it’s the right thing to do, but that doesn’t make it any easier.  Please pray for him that he find peace in this matter, because it is truly tearing him apart.

So where do we stand now?  When he comes home from Iraq in February (he is on another 13 month tour), he is going to be teaching his job to new Marines down at the Schoolhouse in Coronado.  He’ll do that for about 2-3 years and then it’s possible he’ll be in the zone to promote again.  At that point we hope that the position here at Camp Pendleton will open again and he can be transferred there rather then the Okinawa position.  If not, he will feel forced to retire.  The thing is, we aren’t quite sure what to do now.  As of the day after tomorrow he will be eligible to retire.  We are debating whether or not he should stay in and take the tour as a teacher down in Coronado (don’t know how we’ll pay the gas money for him to travel there and back each day…that’s 150 miles round trip daily) or if he should just go ahead and put in his retirement package when he returns from Iraq in February.

Putting in for retirement now sounds like a good option up front, but we have concerns with that also.  He makes really good money right now and we’re going to lose a lot of it when he retires.  In order for us to continue with our way of living, he’d have to find a job that pays $60-70k a year (we don’t live richly but the cost of living here for a family our size is just outrageous).  That’s on top of what retirement money (right around $30k a year) we would be getting.  We’d most likely want to move out of state, go somewhere cheaper to live.  We’ve got several options, the best one is to move near Scott AFB in southern Illinois.  The biggest problem with that though is trying to sell our house, it is not going to be easy.  With the way the housing market has plummeted in our area this past year or two, we’d most likely have a hard time selling, and even if we were able to sell we’d most likely take a big loss on it.  We’d most likely lose so much money it’s scary.  It’d be a miracle if we’d break even.
This is one of those situations where we wish that God would give a SHOUT OUT and tell us what to do.  But, we all know that God no longer works like that.  I know, I know…free will and all that.  It would just be nice if we knew without a shadow of doubt that we were doing things within God’s will.  Because then we’d know that we were doing the best possible thing for the best possible outcome, you know?  It’d be so nice if God would just tell us what to do because then there’d be no doubt that we were doing the right thing!

Last Sunday at church God lead me to this verse: We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall. - Proverbs 16:33.  This verse was totally unrelated to what the sermon was about in church, it just kind of jumped out at me, if you know what I mean.  I felt God was telling me to share it with Brice and that He wanted for us to both meditate and pray over it.  So, I told Brice about it and he has been praying about it, and felt compelled to read all of Proverbs 16 and found 16:3 to say: Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.  So, we feel that with these two verses together, that God is telling us that as long as we commit ourselves to him, it doesn’t matter which we choose, that He will take are of us.  It’s just a bit scary and a bit frustrating when we worry…what if we are interpreting it all wrong?  What if our human minds are reading things into the situation that we aren’t supposed to?  You know what I mean?

We both think that at this point, we are needing to just completely hand the situation over to the Lord and trust that He is going to take care of us no matter what we choose to do.  But, that doesn’t help us to choose what to do.  So, please, pray for us.  In particular, pray that my husband finds peace in his decisions.

Thank you for bearing with me through this long and lengthy post!  I love you guys and I am thankful for you all!

His new mode of transport (haha):

Weighed in this morning.  Only lost one pound this last week due to TOM being here in full force.  I know that my results were in reality better than that one pound because I always weigh a good 3-5 lbs. more when TOM is here.  So I am thrilled to have that one pound gone.  I worked my butt off this past week, but I was still afraid there might be a gain because TOM has been threatening his visit and making his presence known since Wednesday!  Did one of those one day appearances on Wednesday, disappeared and made me wonder when he’d come back and finish up his monthly tour of duty.   On top of TOM’s wackiness this month, I also ate out twice this last week, El Torito’s for my birthday with my older two kids and Hometown Buffet yesterday with my younger two.  I did eat responsibly both times, but with that and TOM’s wackiness this week, I’d been a little concerned.  I just have to have a good showing for Wednesday’s weigh in at the dojo!

Speaking of the dojo, I had my test Friday night and it went awesome!  I wasn’t nervous at all until class actually started and we did the easiest thing together as a class (8 count drill) and I felt like a deer caught in someone’s headlights!  I have no idea what it was I did, but it was nothing resembling the eight count drill lol.  It got better though and I really had a good time, albeit a nervous time.  It was so scary when Sensei had us stand in front of anyone and pick a kata to do on our own!  We had a lot of people there watching, too.  All of my kids were there, to include my daughter’s boyfriend and one of my sons friends.  The place was packed with people watching.  It does help to think that they all are wishing us luck, but it is still a little on the scary side.  Man did it feel good to get my belt though!!  After we get our belt and certificate we get back into our place on the floor and get into a horse stance and Sensei gives us a good kick to the gutt.  I had been aware of this and practiced the night before by having my son kick me…I wanted to have a good, deep kiya! when Sensei kicked me….so anyway…he kicks me and OMG this tiny mouse like squeak came out of me!  lol I was mortified!  Laughed and said, where the heck did that come from.  I think it must’ve been cuz’ he barely kicked me…I dunno.  He does kick ever so softly for us newbie white belts, the higher up your belt the harder you get kicked.  Shoulda seen the kicks he gave the brown belts!  Afterwards we did a group photo and then everyone stood around talking for a bit….congrats and hugs given out all over the place.  It was good times.  That is one of the things that I’m loving best about taking karate at this dojo.  It feels like we’re one big happy family.  I just love that.  It’s kind of an indiviual and a team sport at the same time.

Here are some pics:

See the little boy to the left of me?  Bless his heart, his parents got the times confused between the kids test that went before, and our test, so he tested with us adults.  I talked to him a little before and after the test, he was such a delightful young man (wow do I sound old saying that lol).  Very polite and respectful and smiling, having a good time.  It had to have been intimidating for him to be testing with us adults instead of his peers from his class.

Anyway, that’s it from me for now.  I did want to share a bible verse that God drew my attention to this morning at church.  It wasn’t a part of the sermon, just one of those that pops out at ya while finding the verse we were to be discussing, know what I mean?  I think that I am meant to share it with my husband (I’ll tell you all why tomorrow), but thought I’d share it here too.  Take care and God bless!

We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall. - Proverbs 16:33

Well, we had a GREAT time yesterday morning at the movies and early afternoon at El Torito’s for lunch.  I ate really well the entire day.  At El Torito’s I ordered the combo plate that has one cheese enchilada and one shredded beef taco.  Ate half and boxed up the rest for today’s lunch.  By the time dinner rolled around I wasn’t hungry but made myself eat a protein bar because it is no good going to karate class with nothing in my stomach aside of the lunch I’d eated seven hours before.  So, my calorie count for the day was just over 1400, which is under my max of 1500.  YAY!!!  I also got in all of my workouts and didn’t even think about trying to take the day off just because it was my birthday.  It was a fairly happy birthday, just missed having my husband here for it.  He always makes it special for me by baking me a cake and getting me presents and whatnot.  He is such a wonderful man, God truly blessed me with him and I will forever be thankful that he is mine.

Tonight is my yellow belt test at karate!  I am so excited about it!  When I first started taking class, the thought of test day made me feel sick with nervousness.  But now that my first test day is here, I am pleasantly surprised about not being nervous.  I think it’s because I know everything I’ve got to know and that helps my confidence level tremendously.  I suppose once I get there and see how many friends and family are going to be watching to cheer their loved ones on, I might get nervous then.  All my kids are going to be there and my daughter’s boyfriend too.  Usually when we have class there is hardly anyone there watching and you never even think about the people sitting there watching you anyway.  I’m betting that such is going to be the case tonight too.  My daughter will be taking pics.  I’m hoping that some will turn out good and I can post em’ here.

I forgot to update on the Biggest Loser contest we’re doing at the dojo this month.  We weighed in on Wednesday and I’m far in the lead.  WOOHOO!!!  The way I see it is that the only way I’m going to lose is if someone works harder than me.  So, I work to my absolute limit and if I lose anyway, well, at least I know I did the absolute best I could.  There is no shame in that.  It’s this attitude that helps me to succeed.

Take care everyone, and have a FABULOUS Friday!