Progress!

Amy

After the disappointment of myself over the past several weeks I decided this week was going to be different.  I was NOT going to have to write about another week where I did not make progress.  I needed to decide was I going to quit like I always do or finally decide that I was worth it and get my butt moving in the right direction.  Well I am happy to report I decided to invest time in myself and get moving.

Food wise I would say I am doing ok. Not phenomenal but not awful either. I am still making sure to eat breakfast everyday which I still find very hard to do. I also am still off soda and drinking much more water. Even getting water out at restaurants when I go most of the time. That for sure is progress for me. This past weekend we had to travel for a soccer tournament for my daughter so we had to eat out stay at a hotel all weekend. I felt like I did pretty good while at the restaurants making the right choices. I chose vegetables every time over the starchy food I used to choose. That is still very hard for me. I want the potato with lots of butter not the broccoli and salad. But I did the right thing and got the broccoli and salad. I know this will only get easier with time. Maybe one day I will crave salad like I crave french fries. Lol one can hope right? 

I have made my greatest strides this week with exercising. I still have to be honest and say I did not exercise everyday but I did exercise this week and for that I am proud of myself.  And not only did I exercise but I actually kind of enjoyed it. One day I went for a hike with my daughters.  That I really enjoyed.  The scenery was gorgeous and the hike was hard but not too hard. I also went out with my kids and played basketball.  Normally that is something my husband does and I am lazy and stay in the house but this time I didn't.  I went out and enjoyed the family time. It was nice. I also did a workout on the treadmill one night.  I ran/walked a mile. It took me 20 minutes but I did it! I NEVER run and I did this night. I almost felt like it had been so long since I had run that I may not know how to do it but I did. I just had to do short bursts of it but hey that it better than nothing.  Tonight I walked a mile around the Highschool track with a friend. That was really fun. Exercising may not always seem fun to me but what I realized this week is that I just need to be creative with it and find things that are fun that are also exercise. 

Next week I hope to keep working at it and keep up what I am doing. I'm glad now that I didn't give up. I have a very long road ahead of me but I have so much support and I need to keep going. Progress is good no matter how slow.

Inspired. Motivated. Driven.

Donna

Don't Forget to Laugh and Enjoy Life!

What inspires us?  What motivates us? What drives us? 

For me, it’s one thing…relationships.  If you step back and look at the big picture, we have an opportunity to do something great in this life.  We, ourselves, have a chance to inspire, motivate and drive others.  We have an opportunity to help people.  When I talk about helping people, it could mean something as simple as saying hello, giving a hug, holding a door.  Sometimes the need is greater.  Sometimes it requires us to be completely selfless.  Sometimes we are aware that someone needs help, but it may seem too hard so we choose not to help.  How many times have you left a situation that didn’t seem right, and wondered later if you should’ve done something…said something?  The right choice isn’t always the easy choice, but to take advantage of God’s blessings, you truly have to put other’s needs and feelings before your own.  I’m not saying I’m some kind of saint over here…I’ve missed the mark on several occasions…but I’ve learned something from each of those situations and always strive to do better.

I have been beyond blessed with three precious children that my husband and I adopted from foster care.  When I feel like quitting or throwing in the towel, I think of them.  They need me to be strong. They need me to be present.  They deserve the best version of me because they did not ask for the situation they were put in. Their early upbringing was nothing short of devastating…but I prayed and asked God to make me their mother.  He answered my prayers and then some! 

As this journey continues, some days are not as easy as others.  Although I have become quite manic with my work outs, my food hasn’t always been on point.  I noticed when I was blogging my food on FB every day, I was more accountable and made better choices. Now that I stopped posting daily, I tend to let things slip.  I went to a graduation party on Saturday and had good intentions with my food choices. I did my usual pre-dinner menu screening at home, but as soon as we got to the restaurant I was swept away by the larger than life frozen margaritas!!  The waitress of course was twisting my arm. (nah, she wasn’t) Although I only had one, one was probably too much.  I also indulged in chips and queso.  Yikes, they were so delicious! I am not trying to beat myself up over a few unhealthy choices.  I’m proud of what I’m doing and every day is a new opportunity to make better decisions.  The reason I share with you the things that drive me is because I am dedicated to reaching my goal and maintaining a healthy weight for not just myself, but for my kids.  They deserve that!!  I may experience slip ups here and there, but I recognize the error in my ways and have made a full recovery today.  Unlike times in the past, I am allowing myself some wiggle room, but not for weeks on end.  One, two days max…then it’s back to business!!

This weekend I was sitting in the yard watching my kids swim. I’ll be honest, I was tired and probably Facebooking more than a mother of 3 should.  My 4 year old kept asking me to swim with him.  How could I disappoint that face?!!  Mind you, swimming in our yard is in a kiddie pool the size of a bath tub…but I put my bathing suit on and we swam!  I then began doing step aerobics in my yard because I could hear my driven sisters telling me to just keep moving!! LOL.  This is a journey guys…every little thing helps and every food choice matters, but don’t forget to laugh and have fun!

If you take anything away from this week’s blog, please just do not give up.  At some point, we are all given unimaginable circumstances in life.  I know too many people that have to mourn the loss of what their lives should’ve been and adapt to a new set of circumstances, including myself, but we wake up….we heal….we forgive….we move on.  The relationships that I treasure the most are what keeps me going.  Old relationships, new relationships….we keep on going and the hard times that seemed impossible to overcome, become less painful and easier to deal with.  They become part of our past and we no longer allow them to hinder our present and future.  Reach out to the people who are reaching for you and you will begin to see what a huge blessing your life is!!!  This is not a sprint, it is truly a marathon!  And on that note, I followed Libby’s lead and registered this week for San Antonio’s Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Dec. 2016!!  I will be PRing this race, for sure!!!  (Personal Record, yea baby) 

To Succeed We Must Begin.

Libby

Harrisburg Half 2011

If you are following my blog it is not any secret that my fitness journey hasn't even started. Every week I read my colleagues posts on driven. and I must admit I was a little envious of their progress and that I was making excuses for not making any of my own.  I was giving myself grace because our lives had changed so quickly and so drastically by taking on 4 children temporarily.  Those 4 little blessings have left our home and I am refocused on my health and fitness goals for myself and my family.  

This is my new start.  I have made this start many times, was excited, convicted, hopeful.. and then.. I failed.  So what is different this time?  Fundamentally nothing.  Support wise  everything.  Let me explain...

Since I have tried and failed many times I have all of the equipment I need to succeed.  To start preparing my mind, I have to open the trunk...

....with all of my weights and bands in it.  Then I dust off my sneakers and break out my running gear.

Running is not new to me, my sister and I used to run together all the time.  I actually really miss spending this time with her.  I stopped running, got out of shape and just have not been motivated to get back into it.  When I was thinking about writing this blog today, I pulled out my old running shoes, they had these sneaker charms on them that my sister and I bought at the Marine Corps Marathon expo a couple of years ago and reminded of me of how I felt before during and after the races that I ran.  Before the races I am always nervous, are my pants going to stay up? Is my music going to cooperate, will I have to go to the bathroom?  Should I pee one more time before the gun goes off?  Then during the race a whole range of emotions are going on, from exhilarated, tired, oh my goodness, where is that mile marker?, water table? WHERE's the water table?  exhilarated again, I am almost there, I can do this.  I need my go to power song and then I am there crossing the finish line.  I find my sister and we walk around post race, I feel accomplished, tired but good tired, and happy that I stuck it out and finished STRONG. 

I have had both of these sneakers for the same amount of time, not at the same time though.  Notice how worn the sneaks on the right are.  That is because I ran in these, hard.  I ran miles in these, I pounded pavement, moved my body.  The ones on the left were bought with great intentions, but those intentions faded into something I felt took priority over my well-being.  

When I got the sneakers out I changed my charms over to my new sneakers and plan on adding more.  I was nostalgic about the races I trained for and ran.  These races always felt like an accomplishment for me.  I have a picture of a few of the races I ran over the past 5 years and an introduction to the support part I mentioned above.

Harrisburg Half 2011 and 2013

5k races and a future race

The difference this time is the support that I have.  Normally when I am doing these healthy lifestyle changes my husband is not really on board but he has agreed to run the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half with me on September 18, 2016. (That is the confirmation from the race in the bottom right corner of the picture.)  This will be my 3rd half marathon and his first. He plans on training with me using Couch to 13.1k app.  I will map my runs on map my run and post my progress on here.  We are also cleaning up our diet.  

Chanon's blog talked about a documentary call Fed Up.  Miguel and I watched it on Netflix, he was surprised at what the report said about the food industry.  When it was over we got called into a kid scuffle, Miguel looked at me during the kid drama and with a serious look, he said, "we are done poisoning our children." It sent a shiver down my spine.  

 We started implementing  changes in our diets that made a difference, like, less eating out, more whole foods, and way less prepackage items.  After watching Fed Up, we realized we need to take it to the next level for us and our kids.  My husband and I need structure so we are starting with the Haylee Pomroy fast metabolism diet.   I have experience with this diet, I lost about 12lbs and it is awesome! It is not really a diet but a lifestyle, a new way of eating.  

.Click here to find out more about Haylee Pomroy

Last but not least I have my Driven. community.  My Driven ladies-Chanon, Amy, Denise, Donna, and Michelle all provide each other positive and motivating support and advice.  We also provide each other accountability as well as writing this blog does for us.  We want to post progress and success, but this blog is all about being real and well life happens.  I guess my hope is that what they say is true that all the great successes had many failures before they finally reached their dreams.  

Clearing the path to success!

Chanon 

Sometimes I can get so distracted by Facebook that I fail to see the beautiful gifts in my life.  Sometimes I can get so distracted by sugar that I fail to see my end goals. And sometimes I can get so distracted by comparing myself to others that I just want to curl in a ball and cry. 

Yesterday I finally did something about these sometimes.   I intentionally  deleted my Facebook account.  This will help me  with the distractions and the comparing.  It may actually help with the sugar to... Mindless scrolling numbs me and when I am numb, I forget about my goals. 

I want to be more intentional with my time. This is something I have been realizing more since I have to schedule my work out times, plan menus and snacks for my family,  and adjust to a new summer schedule for my 4 children.  I want to focus on relationships with people and be intentional in communicating with family and friends. I need to clear my mind space to fill it with all the goodness this health journey has to offer.  

I watched Fed Up this week. It's that documentary on Netflix about being Fed Up with Sugar.  Wow was it powerful. It was so powerful I actually had a nightmare the night I watched it about someone tackling me in the grocery store parking lot after I had purchased sugar laden foods.   I have been trying to process why this film was so emotionally evoking for me. I can say for one I realize that I have taught my children that sugar is a staple in their diets. I have taught them that when they feel sad, tired, or happy- that sugar can fix those emotions or celebrate them. I have taught my children that it is acceptable to have sugar for breakfast, sugar for snacks, sugar for every meal and for every reward.  I realize that I didn't say words that taught them these things, I showed actions that would confirm all of these lessons. 
And with those lessons that are now part of their reality, I am Fed Up.   I have also taught them that sitting, staring at a screen ... A.k.a. Facebook is acceptable for breakfast, lunch, snacks, car rides, potty breaks, sporting events, family game night, waiting for coffee, getting homework done, and any other time imaginable.   And with those lessons that are now part of their reality, I am Fed Up.  

So what does Facebook and being Fed Up have to do  with being Driven.?  Everything. For me when I set out to be a healthier person, my goals mostly surrounded my numbers. Most specifically my A1C Sugar count and my weight. 
I had deeper, more spiritual goals as well. I prayed to be freed of any distraction that would stand in my way of my goals.  I have known for sometime Sugar is a huge distraction and I have also known Facebook is a huge distraction to me.   If I could use it in moderation I'm sure it would be a fun thing to have in my life. However- I had an addiction to Facebook and I need to break it. I also have had an addiction to sugar and I need to continuously break that. 

By breaking free from addictions  I am setting myself up for success. I am freeing so much mental space to see clearly the important beautiful gifts in front of me. I am focused on my goals and have exercised 3 times this week. Day 14 of this new habit.   I am teaching my kids that when you are Fed Up with something, you can take action and change it. 
You can cut the head off of the snake in your life... 

Being Fed Up is a good thing when we take action to change our circumstances. 

Blessings for a week full of clearing your space.... For success!!

 My oldest son at 8th grade graduation. 

Ellie at the dress rehearsal.

Dance recital. Dress rehearsal tonight and I didn't miss a single minute by zoning out on Facebook. I was present and intentional however we did have sweet frog ice cream on the way home... Our annual tradition... I'm still buzzing from the sugar. 
( it's all about balance ....)

You Have to WANT it to Get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michelle

Starting Weight:  210lbs beginning of February
Current Weight:  164.4lbs
Height:  5'5"
GOALS:  My Goal is to lose 60lbs!! Gain strength and endurance!! 
Motivation and Support:  Myself, my husband, and my family and friends.  Watching and hearing about others on their own journeys to getting healthier and stronger give me great encouragement.

Did I say last week that this was totally getting harder??  Well I was right!! I lost no weight this past week, but I maintained and for that I am thrilled!!

I do have to be honest this past week, life got in the way and I was not able to "move" or exercise as much as I would have liked.  Also with memorial day weekend cookouts,  what a bad weekend for eating for me.  My brain that tells me "that was absoluteley delicious go get more", well it said it and I listened to its command without a question!!  :(  Both Sunday and Monday!!

There were also 2 days that I was not feeling well that kept me from moving!  Now today my 3 year old is down and sick!!  Fingers crossed this does not travel through everyone in our household!!

I was able to get a 3 mile run in this week that I was totally impressed with myself!!  I am always looking to gain endurance and strength and that I did with a time of 29:48!!  I also am finding that I am now able to do "boy" push-ups!!  Actually I am up to 16 of them!!  (may not sound impressive to you but at the beginning I could do no "boy" ones and struggled to do only 8 "girl" push-ups!!  I can actually do 40-45 girl push-ups now!!)

Although this week is not impressive, to me I still feel like my body is changing, and I continue to listen when it needs rest or maybe an additional snack.  Changing in a good ways, that I got brave yesterday when at the store and tried on bikinis!!  Yes I said the "B" word!!  haha  And much to my surprise I found one not only did I love on the hangers but I loved it on me!!  I even wore it today out at the pool which is huge for me!!  Have not worn a bikini in over 10 years!!

Cheers to the upcoming week to not fall of the train and listen to my brain, and to also add back in more excercise/running to help burn extra to continue on this journey to my goal.  Small steps are the best steps as they are the way to make the change.  14lbs still to my goal!!  I will do this, I can do this, and so can you!!! :)

7 Lunges to the Bathroom...

Denise

 

HEIGHT:: 5’8”

STARTING Weight on 4-25-16 : 208

TODAY’S Weight: not getting on that evil thing until 7-25-16

GOALS:  Fit comfy into any size 12, no muffin top and with a tight shirt!

Establish playtime on a daily basis that helps me achieve a strong body. Break old habits!

MOTIVATION and SUPPORT:  My husband, my family, my friends and my Lord.

 

PANDA LOG 06.02.2016

 

I've gone 5 weeks without emotionally eating and 10 days of working out consistently. The things that would put me into a tailspin before isn't now. I love the way I eat and I'm feeling great that I've added exercise. I have more energy and I'm seeing results, small baby step results, but results. It is all so natural and going so easy that to be honest, it's scaring me a bit. I know I have a lot of “emotional” events coming up soon and I'm hoping that I can keep a grip on these new and wonderful changes that I've made. Every morning I do one of two workouts while getting ready for work and I feel more energetic with these new additions to my routine, so much so that my eternal alarm is getting me up at 5:45 instead of 6 and I can't go back to sleep. I have to admit that I like the extra time to have coffee and cuddle with my puppies after exercise and getting ready but before I leave for work. My workout so far is as follows:

7 lunges to the bathroom, 40-50 squats while brushing my teeth, 7 lunges back to my bedroom, a set of curls, back raises, shoulder lifts and hammers (alternate days: 30 second plank, 40 crunches, 25 butt lifts and 15 each leg lifts). Lunges to and from bathroom again, second set of arms or core, makeup, third set of arms or core, third set of lunges.

 

I still haven't added the much needed cardio but it's coming. I'm adding Tuesday and Thursday cardio be it walking, kangoo or biking. Baby steps has worked so far so I have to have faith that it will work for cardio as well. I'll be adding to my morning routine also after I have 10 more days under my belt. I thought I was done with my cardio section, but I'm sitting here on my porch throwing the ball to my sweet little girl as she awkwardly runs out to get it and excitedly runs back so I'll throw it again, and I'm feeling both inspired and shamed! My lil girl, Febe, was diagnosed with Degenerative myelopathy a year and a half ago and here she is without full use of her back legs and still running around like a mad girl! She has a terrible time walking on the sidewalk so our walks around the neighborhood stopped a few months ago, but she can get around her yard like wild fire sometimes. I just love seeing her play ball, her very favorite thing in the whole world and if she can get her cardio on, her momma has no excuse not to!!!!

 

Febe Playing Ball

 

Snuggle Time with Febe

 

As far as food goes its proteins, veggies and fruit for the most part. Every work day I eat egg salad, a veggie and my banana-cashew milk-yogurt-cinnamon smoothie, dinner is a protein and veggie and most of the time a glass (or two) of red wine. Non work days, which I've only see one of those a week for almost a year, is still the same mixture of proteins, veggies and fruit, just in a different arrangement. Like fried eggs with grilled pineapple, or anything that's different than my normal day time foods I eat when working. I wish my figure would change faster, I'd love to wake up and my pants are super baggy, but my body is taking “baby steps” in the most literal way!! I go to the chiropractor 2-3 times a week to keep my body from falling apart from some ailments I have and all the exercise I've added so far is really helping with it. I feel stronger and that is the best feeling!!

 

Progress report on my husband: lost 10 lbs and looking good! He joined me in this journey a week after I started and boom, lost 10 lbs!! I wish!!! Lol

 

Until next week.

 

Peace,

Panda

 

 

I AM WORTH IT!

 Amy

       CURRENT WEIGHT: 230 LBS

I'm not quite sure what is wrong with me? Why can't I get it together?  Do I want to be fat the rest of my life? I'm to the point that I need to dig deeper and really figure out why am I like this. Do I not feel like I deserve better? I do care what I look like and I don't want to be like this anymore  but I also can't seem to get it together and change things. This is why I continually fail. Because I get discouraged and then I just quit. I really want to make this work and keep trying but to do that I need to stop sabotaging myself. I'd say I always fail because I'm lazy but I really do think it's something deeper then that. I look back at the picture of me and my husband from when we first started dating and I can't believe how different Iook. When I look at that photo the biggest thing I think is I actually thought I was fat then. Man what I wouldn't give to be that weight now. 

This week I would say has been my worst week yet. I have slipped back into not eating breakfast in the morning and eating some not so good things. I haven't completely fallen off the wagon but I'm heading in that direction.  I need to decide here and now am I going to give up like I always do or am I going to finally decide that I am worth it and keep going. I know I am worth it I just need to keep telling myself that and just keep trying. I know we all struggle but it just seems like I am struggling more then everyone else. I guess what I am saying is that I need regroup and just take it one day at a time because I don't want to quit on myself. 

I AM WORTH IT!