I'm back at exercising and having a great week!

I found something wonderful this morning! I found this channel called "Exercise TV" on my cable. I had no idea it was there. I've never seen it. It's ALL exercise videos!

I can't ride my bike out because its in the upper 30s in the mornings so I need to find something I can do inside. I only have Billy Banks' Cardio Circuit Tae Bo video. It's a great workout, but I'm kinda getting tired of it.

So this morning, I chose Jilian Michaels. I'm a die-hard Biggest Loser fanatic! Bob Harber has a workout on there too. I'll do his next. I can't make up my mind which trainer I like the best, but I lean more towards Bob because he works alot with yoga and relaxation, which, face it girls, we need a lot of—relaxation!

So anyway, I did her 30-Day Shred workout. It was level 2. I missed level 1 somehow. It was 20-minutes of hell! Man am I TIRED!!!

I previewed the video before I started and it didn't look very hard at all. Man was that deceiving! I worked my butt off!

I feel real good! This is the first "real" exercise I've done in weeks. Sure, I walk every Tues & Thurs mornings for an hour, but that's more medium/low-intensity cardio. This was a great change.

Now I'll just have to see if I can get my lazy butt out of bed on Friday to do a different work out.

I've had a really great week since I've decided to stop beating myself up about not losing like I want to. I've actually done some really cool things this week:

• I only ate ONE piece of pizza when the family ordered a large pizza from Pizza Hut (my favorite pizza place on the planet!). It was loaded with everything I like. But I said I could only eat one piece and I told them I couldn't order it. I figured I didn't want to be the catalyst to bringing pizza into the house. And I stuck to my guns ... ONLY HAD ONE PIECE!

• Then a day before yesterday, we had a coupon to a local restaurant (35% off!) so I met hubby after work and I was running a bit late. So he ordered an appetizer. POTATO SKINS!!! I couldn't believe it when I sat down and saw those awesomely scrumptious delights sitting there waiting on me! And loads of sour cream too! ... I DID NOT EAT ONE OF THEM!

• Then, I decided to try not weighing myself this week, at all. Well, the week started off rough, because I weighed myself Monday because I just couldn't not do it! Then I talked to hubby about it that night and he said he'd hide the scale for me. (Isn't he mister wonderful?!) So, perfect! I wouldn't have to even see the scales so I won't be tempted. Well, Tuesday morning came and the scales were still there. ... so I weighed myself. ... I have no restraint. None! ... This morning when I got into the bathroom, you'll never guess... the scales were gone! Woo hoo! I'm free! It actually feels liberating right now. We'll see how it goes the rest of the week, but for now ... I DID NOT WEIGH MYSELF THIS MORNING!

• I've also been drinking more water. That's been a struggle of mine for soooooo long. Some experts say you should have 8 glasses a day. Some say, take your weight and divide it in half and that's how many ounces you should be drinking each day. Well, for me, that's about the same. So I've been trying to drink 5 bottles (16 ounces or .5L) a day ... YESTERDAY, I HAD ALL FIVE BOTTLES!

• Oh, and I've walked for 30 minutes every night this week. This is in addition to my regular exercise routine. I still exercise and walk in the mornings for an hour. But this is a new addition. The nights have been so wonderful and I figured the dogs could use the exercise. So every night after dinner, I've been taking them out for a half hour walk around the neighborhood. I know that's helping with my digestion and keeping my metabolism reved up. So here's to ... WALKING FOR 30 MINUTES EACH NIGHT!
  

I've also been making extremely healthy choices for my food. I've been reading Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet book and getting some great ideas for the types of foods that will hype my metabolism and will make me feel fuller longer and feed my body with the proper nutrients.

Yesterday, for breakfast, I had 3/4 cup steel cut oats with a half a cup of pumpkin, a tablespoon of honey, a shake of pumpkin pie spice and 2 tablespoons of dried cranberries. It was like a sweet Thanksgiving treat! Was so yummy!

I've made very smart choices this week for my food. So far, this "break" is going great.

By the way, this is the last week for the 18 Pounds in 18 Weeks challenge and I didn't want to ignore you guys that are still on the challenge. I would love to hear what you guys have lost since the challenge started on July 12th. I'm sure everyone else here would love to hear also. So, let me know: Karyn, Katschi, MaryFran, Donna, Spunky Suzi and Bento Diet, Cathy. Even if it's a loss or a break even or even if it's one pound, we should be proud of our efforts. So please let me know so I can post a final post this weekend with our final results.

.