Just the facts ma'am

I'm at week 2 with my "lifestyle" change. It's been interesting and hard. My new motto is "quit slacking and make shit happen". It's the longer version of "just do it". And to be honest it's helped me not just with working out, but with other things too.
A couple weeks ago I posted about trying to come up with a schedule that works for this family. Well, I came up with one. Sticking to it is another story. I guess you can say it's a work in progress. But at least it's not dead in the water! We're sticking to the spirit of it, and working together on it.
One thing I have stuck with is the diet and exercise. I hit the gym after dropping the munchkin at school. It's only a mile from his school. I only had time one day last week for strength training because of different things, but I've been trying a training routine for beginner runners. And I'm really happy with my progress. So here are week 1 and 2 pics, and the new stats. Minus the measurements. I'm also posting my cardio stats, cuz I'm really happy with them!
Week 1 weight: 158.6
Week 2 weight: 155.6
Cardio:
Monday 1.27 miles 20 minutes
Tuesday .98 miles 15 minutes
Wednesday 1.27 miles 20 minutes
Thursday 1.35 miles 21 minutes
And I've been under my calorie goal every day, except Monday.
I'm going to try to post every week on my progress. Next week I'll link to a few sites that I use for inspiration. I'm using MyFitnessPal.com for tracking. If you'd like to follow my progress there, my user name is ChnkyMomNoMo.

It's now or never!

In my last post I promised to post some before pics, along with all the measurements.  Oy vey!  How I am dreading hitting publish on this post.  But doing so pushes me to a new level.  This will no longer be a fantasy in my head.  No longer something I talk about occasionally.  It will be something that I have to do.  Because now I am accountable.  I am accountable to all of you who actually read this and give a shit.
But now is time to be honest.  Brutally, painfully honest.  I am not happy with the way I look.  I don't think I have ever been truly happy about my looks, but then who is?  Jennifer Aniston probably, but lets face it.  The girl is pretty damn perfect.
Anyway, back to me.  So, yeah.  Really unhappy with my looks.  And I now there's the whole "you're over 30...you had two babies...blah blah blah".  Don't get me wrong, I look at my kids and am amazed that I made them.  I MADE them.  In my body.  That's pretty damn amazing right there.  But they have been evicted.  And as I am no longer breast-feeding, my body is mine again.  To do with what I choose.  And no matter what excuses I have made to myself and others over the years, the way I look is a choice I have made.  Every time I eat when I'm not really hungry.  Or eat some fat-laden calorie bomb over the more healthy options.  Every time I sat on my ass watching tv or reading instead of being active.  Every time I drove 2 minutes instead of walking.  Every time I did that I chose to stay this way.
Well, I can't do that any more.  I AM over 30.  And every year that goes by means it gets that much harder to change what's here.  It also means another year of being unhappy.  And while there are health risks that I am trying to avoid by getting my weight in check, I'm being honest here.  I'm tired of being the chubby one.
Sooooooo....without further ado...or more procrastinating...here are the gory details:

I am now at 158.6 pounds.  And here are the measurements: 

Arms: R 12.5" L 12.5"

Bust: 40"

Waist: 36.5"

Hips: 43.5"

Thighs: R 23 L 23

I don't want to get super skinny, or all scary-ripped.  I like my curves.  It's the rolls I'm not fond of.

Two birds...one stone...all that jazz

You would think from the title that this is going to be a post about all that I have accomplished with a minimum of effort.  Well, you'd be wrong.  This is going to be a post of all that I hope to accomplish.  And I'm pretty sure it's going to take a lot of effort.
So I blogged before about the schedule.  Henceforth to be known as "The SCHEDULE".  It's in all caps because it's just that important.  I know it's been over 3 years since Hector was deployed, but I just remember that time as well-organized.  At least it was well-routined.  With that routine I was able to accomplish a lot, and I had time to play with my son.  Since he's returned I have tried desperately to adhere to some sort of routine.  Unfortunately I have been derailed at many occasions.  One big obstacle was that over the past three years our lives have been so uncertain.  We never knew how much longer we'd be living some place, so it always felt so temporary.  When a place is temporary, there's really no need for a routine.
Another obstacle was, and is, the fact that my husband suffers from PTSD and mTBI.  For those of you unfamiliar with those two diagnosis, I forgive you your naivety and not understanding what those two things mean for establishing and maintaining a routine.  Trying to maintain a routine when one half of the partnership exists in chaos is difficult at the best of times and impossible the rest of times.
But we have reached a tenuous agreement that I will make up a schedule, and he will adhere to it.
So I am hopeful that we will return so semblance of normal, and my kids will reach some state of calm.  Those of you with kids will understand that children blossom when things in their life are constant and certain.  Those of you with kids with ADHD will especially understand this.  My son is much better able to control his impulses when he has a routine to look forward to.
And I will be better able to handle my life when there is a routine.  Up until now I have been struggling to get things done.  I have been scrambling to get things done on time more than I like to admit.  This means that my grades and everything else has suffered.
I have long wanted to get back into shape, but with no routine in place that has been difficult.
All that changes Monday.  On Monday we will have a routine.  And part of that is I go to the gym after bringing Munchkin to school.  I have worked homework time into that and a cleaning schedule.
And I'm asking for help.  I'm asking for some of you to keep me accountable.  I am going to do something dreaded by many women and make not just my before pictures public, but will also be posting the before measurements.  I'm going to do weekly pics, and monthly measurements.  Please keep help me stay motivated, and true to my course.  Of course I want to look better (anyone who says differently is a damn liar).  But equal to that is to stay healthy.  There's a lot of scary stuff in my family's history, and maintaining a healthy weight and diet will help me avoid the scary stuff.  So feel free to question me on my timeline on Facebook as to how I'm doing.  Making this as public as possible will help me stick to it this time.

One month down

So we've been in Florida for just over a month now.  And we're finally getting to the point where there isn't a catastrophe every other day.  The boxes are pretty all unpacked.  Which is something that we didn't accomplish in West Point, and were there for over a year.  Things are slowly falling into place.
I've done up Monday through Friday schedule that Hector has agreed to follow.  I've left weekends to fun and whimsy.  In that schedule I've built in gym time and homework time.  I've tried to do the gym-when-I-can thing.  So far, it hasn't really worked out.  Ok, it hasn't worked at all.  Geez you're pushy.  I've been a member of Planet Fitness for almost a month now, and I've been a grand total of 3 times.  Yup, less than once a week.  I want to go, but I've been trying to do it at the end of the day, once the kids are in bed.  Yeah, once the kids are in bed I'm plastered to the couch watching something On Demand.
 As for homework time, I've been fitting that in around everyone else's stuff.  And while my grades haven't suffered for it, they haven't exactly soared either.  Instead of my normal A or B with the occasional C, I've been mostly a B student.  When I know with time and dedication I can be an A student.
But I really do like it here in Florida.  I have a feeling we're going to be happy here.  Soon as we start to make friends.

And the beat goes on...

My house is empty.  No couch or chairs, no beds, no dishes.  Where is everything you ask?  Well, it is on it's way to a new life in Florida.  My furniture is not the only thing getting new life.  We found a house in Orlando.  It's a rental for now, but hopefully in a year we'll be able to buy.  So we're moving to Florida!  The sunshine state.  For a new start.  As of August 9 we will officially be civilians.  No more military.  No more Army.  We will finally have a real life.  And I am so very excited to start that new life.   A normal life.  Sounds like heaven.

And I'm very excited to start doing some of the crafty things I've pinned on Pinterest.  I have so many ideas for the kids rooms and our bedroom and the kitchen and the yard.  That's right, I'm going to try my hand at gardening.

I'm going to find a gym and get really serious about getting in shape.  I've got a few ideas on how to finally do that.  It's probably going to involve making one dinner for the family and one for me, but it'll be worth the sacrifice.  And if I'm paying for a gym I'll probably be more likely to actually go there...once in a while.

So wish me luck on this new part of my journey on this crazy roller coaster called life.

Procrastination- Thy Name is Rayna

In light of the fact that I am trying to be a better me, today's post is how I'm trying to be a better student.  As most of you know I've been in college for over 10 years and only have an Associates to show for it.  I'm currently working on my Bachelor's and have just over 84 weeks to go.  I like to count it in weeks.  Weeks are shorter than months (thank you Cpt Obvious) and 84 weeks sounds shorter than 20 months to me.  So in a little over 84 weeks I will be the proud holder of a Bachelor's in English with a minor in History.  And I will be 33 years old. 
Normally I'm a disorganized student.  I try really hard to be organized.  A little too hard.  I spend more time trying to find a "system" that works for me than actually doing my work.  So instead of trying to organize my assignments to death, I'm just going to do them.  Sounds easy right?  Well, habits are hard to break and I'm still organizing more than I should, but it's getting better.
I also procrastinate until the very last minute and beyond.  I used to just wait until right before an assignment was due to do it, but lately I've been waiting until the last day I can hand it in and get credit.  This class I've just started should be good to kick my ass in gear for this one since assignments can only be one day late to receive credit.  Anything past that and you're screwed.  Since I've screwed up enough in past classes to have my GPA weeping, I need to get my ass in gear!  In my past psych classes I've learned the reasons for procrastinating and have finally come to terms for why I do it.  I used to make the excuse that I was too busy doing other things to concentrate on the work, not that I was afraid of failure.  In actuality I am afraid of failure.  For most of my academic career I was able to coast on the bare minimum of effort and get B's.  Now not so much is that working any more, and I am afraid.  Afraid that even with my very best effort I will fail. 
Anyone else have reasons for procrastinating?  Did you get over them?  How?

Groundhog Week

This is going to be a very long week.  Today is Tuesday, but I'm pretty sure we're stuck in some sort of alternate universe, kinda like Groundhog Day.  But instead of reliving the same day over and over again, we're stuck with REALLY LONG days.  I'm sure that all of us (and I mean ALL of us) being sick is not helping.  Lil Miss has been sniffling for almost a week now and Munchkin has been coughing non-friggin-stop since Saturday.  According to the doc it's a viral thing and could last 2 un-ending weeks-possibly 3.  How do you keep a kindergartner from bouncing off the walls because he has to stay inside because he's sick?  I could really use some tips pretty please?  With a cherry on top? 
Halloween went swimmingly last night.  We were out for only about 45 minutes and the kids are loaded.  Not that they'll get to eat all that candy.  I'm not a sugar Nazi or anything, but I am trying to teach them moderation.  We're working on an 80/20 frame.  80% of the time I make them healthy balanced meals and 20% of the time we eat cookies for dinner. 
Today after Lil Miss's nap we're heading to the store for cough drops and groceries.  My kitchen is looking barren....