Oh...where has the motivation gone......just kidding! I'm still motvated. It dropped a little in the middle of the month. I was working a lot of hours and only getting to the Y on days I had to go for aerobics class.

This week has been super for exercise and the eating hasn't been half bad either. My lowest calories was 1320 and the highest was 1644. Subtract all the calories I burnt with exercise, I should be sitting pretty this week. I need it because I stayed the same for our first weigh-in for the biggest loser.

Exercise this week has been a little bit of everything. Tuesday was our exercise class. It's a mixture of cardio and weights. It will kick your ass. I also did 2 miles on the crosstrainer after class. Wednesday, I took the day off. So, I was able to go to the y before they closed due to the bad weather. In our county, if the roads get to bad to travel they issue a travel advisory and you could be arrested if you're caught on the roads. Well, it was bad. I have 4 wheel drive and was hitting drifts that were a couple feet high. Weee...that was fun. Luckily, I was able to keep it on the road. And tonight, our class was cancelled so I did 2.2 miles on the crosstrainer and then did half an hour of spin class.

Ah...I forgot....I put the Jeep in the ditch 3 weeks ago and just got it back. I hit a fence post and knocked the taillight out and damaged the bumper. It was about $2,000 worth of damage. I hit some black ice on a bridge. Actually, I was very lucky. I'm not at all worriied about the money because I wasn't hurt and I didn't hurt anyone else. It was early in the morning so there wasn't much traffic.

In other news, I don't think things are going very far with Mark. He's not coming back from Florida till March. We've still been e-mailing about once a week but things are just fizzling. I don't feel a connection. But that doesn't mean there isn't another possiblity......:)

A dear dear friend of mine just popped up in my life again. He was my best bud for a lot of years and then he got a girlfriend that isolated him. He wasn't able to talk to me and she didn't even like him seeing his guy friends. I'm sure at first he was happy that she want to spend so much time with him but it got old after a while but he had a hard time getting away from her. I guess he's been split up from her for over a year. Anyway, my friend's mother died on the 6th and I went to the funeral. The funeral was at my church and I stayed to help with the dinner. We ended up talking for a long time and have talked on the phone for hours since then. We always had this underlined tension/attraction between us. We can talk about anything with each other. The good and bad thing is we know so much about each other. He knows everything about my former relationships including intimate things. He actually reminded me of some things I had forgotten. I'm not sure where it will lead. I'm afraid I'll ruin friendship if things go bad. I've missed him so much over the years. so...we'll see.

Results so far:

3 out of 4 days in January exercised
4 our of 4 days all food logged in to the dailyplate.com (love that site)

0/11 aerobics class
8.1/25 miles recumbent bike
4.5/15 miles on crosstrainer
1/10 miles on treamill or walked

It looks like I'm really ahead on my goals but i know that it will slow down once my aerobics classes start on Tuesday. And tomorrow will probably be a rest day as I have a long day at work and council meeting after work. The aerobics classes are only a hour but I hear they are really tough. We were told to bring a towel and plenty of water to drink

toodles...I need to wash my face/moisturize, do my devotional and get in bed.

For some reason I just think this is the year. Finally at age 38, I'm finally growing up. I've even made a plan to get my finances in order. I'm saving for a house to buy (maybe even this one). Last year it didn't go to well for saving. In part, do to moving. And I treated myself to a new bedroom suit when I moved. So, I'm going to the office tomorrow morning and going to change my direct deposit so that 10% automatically goes into my saving account. I get a raise this week so I won't notice much missing from my check. I can still add more money to saving as I have extra money. Usually my tax refund goes in there and anythng I earn doing taxes.

I'm still "talkng" to Mark from eharmony. We e-mail and he's called once. BUT he's still in Florida visiting his family. He might not be the "one" but I'm keepng my optons open. I am trying to take every opportunity to meet men. It's one of my missions this year to meet someone. My cousin and her husband has tons of friends and is always doing different things. So, I've been going along for the ride with them. I even went to 2 high school basketball game this winter and a football game in another city. You never know when you'll meet someone. Or meet a friend of a friend that might be interesting.

So, I'm working on health (joining the biggest losser), wealth (saving) and happiness (trying to meet someone) in the new year. I think I can handle all of it because I'm making small changes. The biggest time committment will be the biggest loser.

Thought I'd start some January goals. I start the biggest loser program at the Y on Tuesday that includes aerobics classes 3 times a week. So, I have to incorporate that in my goals. It'll mean that some of my other goals had to be reduced.

11 hours of aerobics
25 miles on the recumbent bike
15 miles on the elliptical crosstrainer
10 miles on the treadmill

So far:
0/0 aerobics (classes start Tuesday)
2.7/25 bike
1.5/15 crosstrainer
0/10 treadmill

Think I'll come clean with my stats from my health assessment at the Y.

• Weight 218.4
  
• Fat % - 48%
  
• Step test - POOR (you step up and down a 12 inch step for 3 minutes and then they take your heart rate. The girl administating the test did say most people don't finsh the test. I finished! My heart rate was 173 though. I'm not sure I agree with the ratings system. I agree with poor right now but you have to get below 129 to be FAIR. My target heart rate should be 109-145. If I get below 145 at the end of the challenge, I'll be happy)
  
• Flexibility - Above Average (Knew this. We did the same test in PTA school. I was the most flexible in my class. It involve long sitting and reaching down past you toes. If I didn't have so much flesh on my stomach I could go even farther)
  There I've said everything "out loud".

Now it's time to get busy on these goals. Off to the Y!

Year in review:

Recumbent Cycling -93.8 miles
Running - 22.3 miles
Walking - 170.4 miles
Crosstrainer - 36.7 miles

You couldn't tell that I trained for a half-marathon. In my defense, I suffered through 4 weeks of sciatic pain during my training. This year will be better.

Weight loss: 22.5 pounds gone. This isn't your typical weight loss with Lap band but I'm not your typical person! I'm still dealing with the emotional side of eating. You CAN cheat with the lap band but I'm slowly getting it! I've ate more ice cream and milkshakes in the last year than the previous 10 years. Eating sometimes seems like a chore and foods that slide down easily are so tempting. Luckily, I'm getting smarter about what I eat and how I eat. It's a very slow process for me.