Weight Watchers Weekly Update
I am happy to report that even through all of the chaos this past week I was still able to pull off a loss on the scale and it was a big one – 5.2 pounds to be exact. It was my biggest weekly loss so far and I was pretty darn happy about it. This brings me down to 242.8 (getting close to saying goodbye to the 240’s) for a total loss of 37.2 pounds since joining Weight Watchers. Woo hoo! During the meeting I was awarded a 5 pound sticker (which everyone gets every time they hit another five pounds lost) and I was given a sixteen week charm (a gold pair of hands clapping with the number 16 etched in) to put on my Weight Watchers key ring that I received when I lost 10% of my initial body weight. You receive this after you have attended 16 meetings. This past Saturday was #17 for me but they forgot to give it to me last week. After the class, Sally, my WW group leader gave me a second 5K charm for completing the 5K last week. She told me for each one I complete she will give me another charm so I can celebrate each race individually. It’s pretty cool to have these tokens to help remind me of my progress.
280/242.8/150
As you know, we are getting ready to move this week. Paul is going to sign the lease for our house on post this upcoming Wednesday and that is when the fun times officially begin. We couldn’t be happier to be moving. Almost every day we think of another reason why life will be better living on post most of which, for me, revolve around proximity to the Synergy Studio. Sometime in the next few weeks I will be joining as a monthly member (instead of buying packs of 8 or 20 classes at a time) which will allow me to take unlimited classes. I will still be doing boxing at the Club KO and Bikram Yoga (until my Groupon runs out) at Bikram Yoga San Antonio but by now I am sure you have realized that I am in love with the classes, and people, at Synergy and becoming a monthly member means I don’t have to pick one class over the other, instead I can take whatever I can fit into my schedule. This makes me extremely happy.
You will be happy to know that I did finally break down and help with the packing. Yesterday, I packed up a very large amount of the kitchen items which was no small feat. I know Paul was probably happy for the help since his ribs are still bothering him and any lifting or bending he does just irritates his injury more. Poor guy. He is pretty great though, he doesn’t really complain about the pain or the fact that I am not pitching in as much as
I should. I told him that I think subconsciously my mind feels it is ok to skip packing in order to go to classes because I had to do all of the packing for the move from Philly to San Antonio by myself and now it’s his turn 
Seriously though, I am just so afraid of taking a week or so off and losing what little endurance I have. I may work out a lot and have definitely become far more active than I was just 5 months ago but the fact of the matter is I am still 90+ pounds overweight and a week off will make a huge impact on my physical abilities. So, I keep going to class and Paul understands why. I think it’s one thing if I skip packing, or cleaning, in order to exercise – that’s ok with him. However, if I just wanted to sit around and watch TV while he was working that would not be acceptable. I am definitely lucky to have such an understanding husband when it comes to these types of things.
Oh, and did I tell you he is training to do a half marathon in the fall? Well if I did, I lied. He is actually training to do a full marathon as part of the Army team which will be running in the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Antonio. I think that’s just crazy. I don’t know how people can run that far, for that long. It seems exhausting. I am literally getting exhausted talking about it. For all of you out there reading this who have done marathons-you are amazing! I have nothing but respect for anyone who can endure something like that. But I also think you are probably slightly mad for doing it
For me, I am on a hiatus from my half marathon training. After I missed three short walks and one long walk over the past two weeks I decided I would take the next two weeks off and decide whether or not this is something I seriously want to train for. I am losing motivation to do it because outdoor walks are becoming next to impossible in this heat and I hate walking on a treadmill. It takes up so much of my time and there are so many other things (like boxing, tai chi, nia) I would rather be doing. I love walking and hiking and enjoy being outside but I am just not sure I can want to even want to continue training. It’s a tough call because on one hand I want to test my limits, to see if I could physically do it, but on the other hand I am starting to dread my walking workouts which is just no fun. So, stay tuned. In a couple of weeks I will decide what I want to do and let you know.
Well, I am off to Poi Spinning in a few minutes so I have to get going. I need to mentally prepare for what I am about to do to my body. Hopefully no more poi to the throat again
Thanks for reading!
Wordless Wednesday
I noticed these flowers around my apartment complex. I have never seen them, or anything like them, before. Very interesting with the giant pods and bright pink flowers.
On Saturday we went to MJ’s first birthday party which was so much fun. Lots of great people and yummy food. Look at the cake KJ made- it was so cute!
Paul and I joined in on a game of ladder golf (I think that was the name) and it is played using two of these PVC ladders and six pairs (three per team) of golf ball rope things, two golf balls attached to either end of a piece of rope, that you throw at the ladder for points. Please note the house in the background. These are the houses for enlisted soldiers on post, so when we move it will be into a house just like that.
Sunday morning SM and I extended our normal 5K walk to 10K in order to test our endurance. We will be walking a 10K in the Weight Watchers Walk-It Challenge on May 22. We walked the distance of the entire Salado Greenway Trail and back for just shy of a 10K- 5.99 miles. Sadly, San Antonio is in a drought so most of our wildflowers have died off and our creeks are bare. I took a picture of some flowers still surviving the drought and a crane (I think) standing in a dried up creek bed.
Speaking of dying flowers, Paul gave me a miniature orchid plant last week but it was not doing well in our apartment. I don’t think it was getting enough light. I brought it into work since I have a lot of natural light at my desk and it is doing wonderfully.
Yesterday I went to support the ISR softball team that Paul plays on. They are really bad. Really bad. To make matters worse, they look like a bunch of misfits compared to the other teams they play against. Can you see the other team in the background in their nice uniforms?
Afterwards I went to the gym for a workout on the recumbent bike. I set out to try and bike 25 miles over 75 minutes. I didn’t quite make it but I am still pleased with the workout. My legs are feeling it this morning. I was also joined by two other people and their two dogs while I was on the bike. It was weird because the people were just hanging out on the machines, not actually exercising, for like 20 minutes while their dogs ran all over. I like dogs so I didn’t mind, it was just unusual to see them at the gym.
Here is my dog Ruby, looking quite sad. I think she misses me since I am at the gym all the time. Although when I am home she just sleeps most of the time so I am not quite sure if she cares. 
Thanks for reading!
We’re movin’ on up….
So it’s official- we are moving into post housing once our lease is up this summer. On Friday, Paul dropped off all of the necessary paperwork in order to get us onto the waitlist for housing. Right now there is a 3-4 month wait for housing which is why it was so important for is to decide now about whether or not we should move onto post. We are both very excited about this decision and cannot wait to move. So, if you live in the greater San Antonio area feel free to volunteer some time to help us out with the move.
Previously I had listed some out the pros and cons of post housing and I wanted to revisit this so you can see why we ended up making the decision to go this route.
Pros:
• Very convenient for Paul- no commuting for work, and for me- easy access to the gym
• Living on post puts us closer to downtown and to the AT&T Center, where we spend a lot of our time.
• We would be surrounded by army people. It might be nice to make some friends that are in a similar a situation. Plus we would be closer to T & K.
New Pros:
• We could have a grill. We miss grilling especially since we live in Texas and grilling is possible 365 days a year. This means BBQs and horseshoes!
• We could have a garden, which I am so excited for. I am already planning on what I would like to grow and picking out bins I want to buy in order to compost.
• The dogs will be able to spend much more time outside. I know this will help them get their daily exercise and eliminate the need for a dog walker.
• Closer to T&K means closer to their daughter. I love spending time with the baby and I am sure they will love having us close by to babysit. Also, this means it will be easier to join K for her evening walks up at the track on post.
• Grocery shopping will be less time-consuming as we would be living super close to the commissary. You have no idea how much of a pain it is driving on and off post every time I want to go to the gym or go shopping. It will be so convenient to live near both places.
Cons:
• It will increase my commute time- actually it is almost the same drive time, I tried it out the other day. It is a further distance but almost all highway driving.
• The houses are teeny tiny and we would probably have to replace all of our living room furniture to fit in the space- Paul figured out a way to make our furniture fit but we still may replace the living room set just because it is time. Also, the houses have a basement and a garage & driveway; which will help with storage space and eliminate the need for me to constantly wash my car- all parking spots at the apartment complex are under trees.
• Living on post would cost the full amount of our housing allowance which basically means we will have to pay more out-of-pocket every month. Our current rent is over $300 less than the housing allowance we receive- we would be paying more for rent but we would not need to put out $50 a week for a dog walker and Paul would not have to drive to work so we would save on gas. Plus utilities are included in the rent amount. Currently we pay anywhere from 130-300 a month in utilities. Therefore, living on post would be cheaper.
• We would be surrounded by army people. This really could go either way, it really depends on the specific army people we find ourselves surrounded by. It could end up being more annoying than beneficial- there is no way now to know what our neighbors will be like but that is true anywhere you move so it is a moot point. Also, just being closer to our friends who live on post would be nice. Especially since Paul and his BFF T. refer to themselves as the wolf pack- they are both so happy at the possibility of hanging out every single day.
• The only pool is the indoor pool at the gym. Not quite what I am used to and they probably frown on you drinking alcoholic beverages while swimming- I’ll adapt, there will be plenty of drinking going on out on out front porch that I think I can live without drinking by/at the pool. I might actually take advantage of having a real pool that is meant to be used for exercise.
As I said previously, we are both very excited for the move. The more we discussed it, the clearer it became that the best decision for us was to move on post. Now we just wait until August 1st to move but don’t think that I won’t be spending as much free time as possible this summer in the pools at our complex. That really is the only thing I will miss.
Wordless Wednesday- random pics from my phone
I have yet to master this whole blogging thing. I wanted to do fancy uploads of my pics but not really sure how. So, here is what you get:
