wii want to play

on my trip out to NY my sister introduced me (finally) to the joys of the wii. i am hooked!!! she had the wii sport, wii play, and recently had purchased the wii fit. on my trip we played every game on the wii play at least once (some of them multiple times), played about half the games on the wii sport (i rock at baseball... sometimes), and then i stepped on the wii fit.

after only one day of playing, my body was sore for about 3 days. mostly it was my right arm and both of my legs. i think it was mostly because of my doing so much on the balance board and working out my shins, but who knows. either way, i decided that i needed to do some research and see if this was an investment i was willing to make. for those of you who look in to it, they aren't cheap!

the research i found says that while they don't burn as many calories as performing the actual activities themselves (i.e. bowling or baseball), these activities burn more than sedentary video games, and are better than nothing at all. there really wasn't a whole lot that i found on the wii fit, but i know that it at least worked some things. so... i broke down and bought it as well. i will call this part of my work-out room purchases. ;o)

so the wii should arrive tomorrow or wednesday. the thing i am dreading, and you should know this if you ever decide to create a wii fit account, is that they are mean! when you first create the account they weigh you and do a bmi and establish your weight goals and what not. after determining your bmi and weight, they kindly adjust your mii character to "fit" your measurements. imagine my look of horror when my mii character at my sisters became "fluffy" and i was standing next to my sister and my brother in-law who both are portrayed as twigs. it was rather sad and yet amusing at the same time. oh well, i guess it is motivation. work out so your mii character doesn't look like a balloon.

well that is all for now. feel free to join me for a wii game or two. i am a pro at cow racing and hula hooping.

climbing on and off the wagon

so this past month has been a bit of a coaster ride with the weight loss. i started out the summer doing pretty well, had gone below 200 and was maintaining around 195. unfortunately the many events post that kind of changed things a bit. as i have stated, traveling doesn't do well for a diet... and i have a tendency to not stick to things as well as i should to minimize the damage. i have never gained a great deal on any single trip, but let's face it any gain is a couple steps back.

in may i took my trip to the carolinas, in june i took a trip up to NY to see my sister, this past weekend i went on a weekend long float trip... all of these presented a bit of a set back. don't get me wrong, i would not trade any of these trips for anything. i had a great time on all of them and wouldn't change anything. i would also like to note that this was the first time i shimmied myself into a swimming suit in public in about 2.5 YEARS or longer!!! however, i am now back in the mode of "gotta get on track". i stepped on the scale after the float trip knowing it was going to be the worst i had seen it in a long time. let's face it, you can't expect to see a good number when for 2 days you consumed a great deal of alcohol and all sorts of food that was off plan. in fact, looking at my food intake from that weekend i don't think i ate much of anything that would be considered on plan. to make matters worse, i most definitely wasn't getting enough water in my system. oh and to make matters worse, right before i left on the canoe trip i got sick *with a form of strep i think* and i started taking some antibiotics. as i have talked about before, antibiotics will make you retain water as well.

me in my new swimming suit! i am actually a fan of it!

so the scale was tipping close to 205. my heart sank a little but instead of getting upset i just took it as some motivation. first thing was to start getting my water levels back up. i knew i was retaining water badly since my ring was fitting snugly, something it hasn't done in about 6 months. i also started taking my vitamins and getting back on track with supplements. finally i started getting better about the food i was eating. i am not saying great because i have had a few "off" meals. however, i am proud to report that when i stepped on the scale tonight the numbers came in at 199. gotta say, i am happy to be back down but i have to keep it that way.

the next few weekends are going to be a bit hard as well. this weekend i have a wedding to go to and i have no clue what is on the menu but i do know there will be some beverage consumption. this time it will be in moderation though! :o) next weekend, 4th of july, i will be heading up to omaha to see my aunt. again with the traveling, but i have faith that the trip won't be a complete wash on my diet accomplishments. after that life should settle back into a semi-normal routine and i can focus more on getting to goal.

final news is that i obtained a new "toy". my extreme dislike of working out in a crowded gym drove me to stop going to 24 hour fitness when the new years rush came in. since them i haven't really gone back. my membership expired last week and i chose not to renew it. instead i spent less money than i would have for the membership and i bought the tony little gazelle. i am pretty excited. now i just need to figure out where to set it up. i am thinking that i want to slowly start building up my own home fitness collection. dvds- check, gazelle- check, wish list... tread mill and maybe some sort of ab or arm machine. who knows where all of it will go but i think i can manage to make room down the road.

that's all for now. i will leave you with a picture. i took this tonight, some time soon i will work on doing another before and after comparison. until then... hope all is well in your worlds!