It's about to go down

Does anyone else remember this movie?

I seriously feel this way.
Like, I have a kajillion things going on inside my head.

Last night, on my drive back from Columbia, I had a small panic attack/mental breakdown/hissy fit, whatever you want to call it.... when I finally realized that I am a head coach of a very large school's softball program.
All of my stress was coming out in the form of tears, because it's not only the softball program, it's Healthy U, school, the fair, my family, my friends, my boyfriend and not letting any part of any of those things down.

So, I came home and went to bed (and fell asleep immediately, which is rare for those who don't know).
And then I woke up today and did the only thing I know to do when I'm feeling stressed:
Get shit done.

I woke up, went to Wal-Mart and bought $300 of groceries.
I had made my list for what I have estimated will be two months worth of food.
I decided I should go ahead and prep chicken and beef meals for the next while.

I came home, and hid for a while, and then took on the task with full force.
Here's what all I prepped:

Six Taco "bowls" 

10 Chicken Fajita "bowls" 

And I'm missing another 11 chicken/cauliflower meals

That ^^^
That is 71 meals.
Will that be everything I have to prep? No.
Will that get me all the way through two months? Maybe not.
Is my entire fridge and freezer full? Yes.
Did my uncle have to bring me a new freezer? Yes.
Do I still need to prep muffins and protein balls? Yes.
Does this make me feel awesome? Yes.

It realistically may not get me through two months (really I need it to be 3 months)
Some of the meals may not re-heat well, especially after being frozen. That makes me a little nervous, but whatever I get will be good.

Tuesday I went and got my hair done by Amber!

Wednesday I was surprised by Margaret Ward from State Farm Insurance with a TON of classroom goodies! I am so lucky! 

Took my mom out to dinner on Friday evening, Miss Avery is a silly girl. 

Saturday I went up to hang with my friends.

Phil and Jess have twin boys who are adorable!
This is Willy-- I had gotten Wally down to sleep (the first time) lol

Here's our Healthy U group at each of our picture times :) 

I have to remember this.

If you're a praying person, pray for me and my heart this week (and the next 8 or so).
I will need it! 

Six Month Evaluations

I've been waiting to write this post because we had to wait to make anything public until the newspaper printed our story. <click there to read it!>

Here's what I can say:
Month 0-3, the weight came off quicker. I was in school with a rigid schedule which allowed me to really stick to the plan.

Month 3-6, weight loss slowed as I got out of school and don't have such a rigid schedule keeping me on track. 

Needless to say, I still made progress in the right direction. Progress that two years ago or even just one year ago wouldn't have been possible. In fact, a year ago, my numbers were consistently going UP. No matter what I tried, I couldn't seem to stay with something long enough for it to be worth it, and I would quit. So I am really proud of myself for sticking with this for 6 months (really more like 7 at this point) ... and making small, consistent life changes for the better! 

I will now show you in photos: 

My photos for the sixth month evaluation
These are just screen shots, so bear with me... 

My "head shots" ... the first picture doesn't even look or feel like me.

What?! Look at that waist! (measured 33" this time!)
Oh.. and 39.6 pounds lost... that's pretty cool!

Oh and just 48.5 inches lost (measured on 14 parts of the body)

And here's a lovely collage I put together of all of them ^^^ 

Something true we don't always think about.

And I'm taking this to a whole different thought, but what I've learned is that someone has to make the decision to be healthy themselves, for themselves and their family. An outsider (doctor, spouse, friend, etc.) is not going to get very far telling a person they "need to lose weight"

I struggled this past week and the week before just being anxious about things. I've had to let my heart rest and not 'worry' so much. What happens is going to be okay- because it has to be. 

Got dressed up and went to dinner last night with Joe and my dad. I felt good wearing this shirt because even when I bought it three years ago it was a bit snug. Now it fits properly, even a little lose. 

I have a knuckle sandwich waiting for anyone who says teachers "don't work in the summer" ...  in just the last three days I've put in almost 10 hours of work, just in the school building, not counting things I've updated and cut and whatever else from home. 

 But then when you get to create something like this it's worth it (it looks better in real life... this picture was taken in the dark) 

I've had this verse on my heart -- and I've been trying to listen to it. 

This is what I needed about this Journey.
Some days kind of suck.
Some days suck big time.
And some days are amazing.
But that's life, and having the ability to say "we're gonna try this again the next day" is the most important part of any journey... right?

So for the next quarter (months 6-9) we had to come up with new goals.
Mine are:
1. Meal prep and take my meals with me to the fair, only treating myself 2-3 times :)
2. Meal prep during school/softball.
3. Compete in the weight lifting competition at Total Fitness on September 17.
4. Be nice to myself. 

Here's to the next three months! 

Data Tracking

So this past week we had our six month evaluations for Healthy U.
I can't tell you how they went really because we have to wait until they run them in the newspaper.
But I can tell you that overall they went well! 

I have decided that weight loss is just like tracking any sort of data.
We track data at school ALL. THE. TIME.
*How many words per minute can you read? How many math problems can you get right? What types of questions can you answer about a story? What are your writing strengths? Weaknesses? How many 'good' days do you have vs. 'bad' days? Spelling test scores? Advanced, Proficient, Basic? Red, Yellow, Green? Grades? Standards-based scores?*
SO MUCH DATA. 

But what I've learned in my years teaching is that data is NOT the end-all-be-all.
Because we are dealing with HUMANS.
Any assessment is a snapshot of how that one student performs with that set of questions at that one moment in time.
If one of my students who is typically an "advanced" kiddo, has to take a test on a day when they are sick, and end up being just "Proficient" ... that's not on the student OR the teacher. 

Same goes for weight loss.
We are all HUMAN.

We all have parties, birthdays, sickness, emotions, family drama, friend drama, dates, vacations...
And all of those things (plus so much more) make up life.
Some of us have triggers that are bigger than others, or just different.

So when we do these evaluations, it is one snapshot of our weight, measurements and physical abilities at one moment in time.

Have I lost weight and inches overall since the beginning? Yes.
Am I better able to perform at the physical tasks? Yes.
Has my blood pressure gotten better? Yes.
Do my clothes fit better? Yes.
Am I more confident with my appearance? Yes.

So, at six months, with 172ish days left, I am happy with how far I have come so far given so many circumstances; and I am looking forward to how much more I am going to accomplish in the next half! 

Food for thought... 

We had softball camp Monday through Thursday this past week.
Kids Camp went from 8am-9:30am, and then High School camp went from 10am-noon.
This pic are my kids plus our high school helpers. We had a great turn-out and I couldn't be more proud! 

And here's my high school group. They worked so hard this week and learned a lot! 

After Thursday's camp day we enjoyed Popsicles and a slip and slide! With both groups, it took a little convincing for them to participate but it ended up being a lot of fun!  

This picture is one that makes me proud.
Two years ago at our camp, there was a picture of me in the newspaper and I looked AWFUL. Like I pretty much didn't recognize myself. So when I saw this picture, I was happy with the way I looked. I still see some things that need work, and I know I will always think that about my body. But now I know that I can and will accomplish my goals for myself. 

Opinions

This week I have been doing a lot of thinking about other people's opinions.

AND HOW THEY DON'T MATTER 

It's so true. So many people offer their "opinion" because they are truly unhappy with themselves. And I am learning that. It used to just be something that I said to cover up the disappointment of them laying out this opinion that was hurtful. But it's actually true, they're just unhappy. 

This is what most people don't know yet.
They don't know that being jealous is just wasting time: that literally the time you're wasting with jealousy could be used to get yourself to where that person is now, whether that be fitness-wise, career-wise, relationship-wise or whatever. 

Most of the time, when you are positive and encouraging to someone else, it makes you feel better. We can seriously make ourselves feel better and do better if we are positive with others. I have no idea why people are nasty to others. You don't know their story or what they may have been through or seen, so just be kind. 

This is something that I think about with a lot of things. Especially within a leadership position. When anyone makes a criticizing comment, they are criticizing their ideas of me, not the real me. Which leads me to this....  

Phew, okay that's enough on that rant. 

So for Fourth of July, I made this cake. Did I eat a piece? yes. Do I regret it? no. 

On Thursday, I went for a long walk on the Katy Trail. It was perfect walking weather, and allowed me to contemplate life haha as cheesy as that sounds, it was good to be out there walking alone with my thoughts 

For Healthy U we have to do our half-mile times each quarter.
5:25 is the fastest I have done a half mile in.... forever I'm pretty sure lol 

I packed my car up Friday night and headed for St. Louis to visit my friend, Maureen! 

So while I was in St. Louis, Maureen and I ran in a 10K ... it was one of my quarter two goals, and now I've accomplished it! 

It wasn't really pretty.... and I walked a lot of it.... but we finished the entire thing! 

I had to take one mirror selfie (this was pre-race)

Saturday Joe and I went out on a date. He was gone for a week, and then I was gone, so we needed some time together! 

Sunday we went fishing at a friend's pond. Joe, of course, caught a bunch... I caught 4 and thought that was good for not having fished for YEARS.
It was such a fun day- we did some work on the farm, I played with the new baby kitten, we went fishing and then shot off fireworks after the sun went down. A nice, balanced day. 

Today we started softball camp.
I am always surprised with how exhausted it makes me! Five straight house in the sun, teaching and coaching is rough! 

We have our 6 month evaluations for Healthy U this Thursday.
I'm hoping it goes fabulously and that everyone meets (or exceeds) their goals. 

Just a little funny.
Also, side note: I made my goal last week of being below 200 pounds!
Last week I weighed right around 197, so it's not much but it's below.
My 'reward' for hitting that goal is to re-touch my tattoo on my foot! 

Girls Weekend - Branson

 

I'm learning this: others' opinions really don't matter, at all. 

This weekend, My mom, her sisters, my sister and my cousins went to Branson for a Girls' Weekend. We had a few things planned, but mostly it was loose.
I had packed all my own food, so I knew I had good healthy options for the condo. 

We had tickets for Dixie Stampede, and we headed there first Friday night. I knew this would be my "cheat" meal for the week, and I ate just about everything I was served (it's so good!) 

Waiting for the pre-show to start with my cousin, Sarah.

The pre-show was a little blue grass music. I LOVED it, some in our group did not... 

This is the menu for the night. I like their soup the best! 

... I only got this one picture of the show... lol it's always really good, even if it is basically the same each time. 

The cool kids at the show

The next day we spent a lot of time at the pool, and then donned our matching attire to go to dinner.
After dinner, the cool kids went mini-golfing. I accidentally put "bowling" on my SnapChat and I still haven't heard the end of that... 

My cousin Shelby and I both got holes-in-one on their "mystery hole" and we got a ticket for a free round of golf at another time! 

After mini golfing, we went and got Cold Stone... while on vacation it's alright to splurge a little, right? 

Earlier in the week, my softball girls finished their summer league in Higginsville. We lost our last two games on Wednesday, but I know they have grown SO MUCH. I just need them to BELIEVE in themselves! 

This applies to everything: dieting, academics, softball.... everything! 

Have a great Fourth of July, everyone!